BELGRADE, September 11, 2003 - Serbian Parliament Speaker Natasa Micic said today that she has consulted National Bank Governor Kori Udovicki and Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic about the allegations of vote manipulation in the parliament.
Micic told Radio B92 that she had decided to act after certain political parties claimed that the new officials of the National Bank had been appointed by a sitting of the parliament which had no quorum.
“It is in the interest of the governor, and in mine, as speaker of the parliament to protect these institutions, and to that end I have today turned to the Constitutional Court for assistance in resolving this situation in which the National Parliament and the National Bank find themselves,” said Micic.
The speaker said that the parliament was unable to resolve the issue itself because the vote had not been challenged within the time prescribed by the standing rules.
“This problem was raised in the media fifty days later and this has put us in an uncomfortable position.
“Because of this I have decided to turn to the Constitutional Court in the hope that it will resolve this matter.,” said Micic.
“Speaker’s hands tied”
A senior official of the Civil Alliance of Serbia, Dragor Hiber, said today that the responsibility for verifying the quorum in the parliament did not lie with Micic as speaker.
“According to the standing rules, the speaker verifies the quorum on the basis of the electronic system, and only at the demand of a caucus leader or their authorised deputy may the speaker order a check against the electronic count,” said.
“Even if she were able to notice that there were not 126 MPs there, and she could not, the speaker of the parliament, as the presiding officer, did not have the authorisation to confirm this,” said Hiber.
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