REM Council: Garic, Valic Nedeljkovic Tied Again
REM Council's third session ended without a chair: Garic and Valic Nedeljkovic each got four votes of the six needed, with new sessions set for every first and third Tuesday.
The Council of Serbia’s Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) failed for a third time to elect a chair at its constitutive session on Tuesday, September 1, in Belgrade. In the second round of secret voting, Milos Garic and Dubravka Valic Nedeljkovic each received four votes, two short of the six needed for election.
Valic Nedeljkovic, the Council’s oldest member, presided over the session. Eight of the Council’s nine members attended; the ninth seat, reserved for a candidate nominated by national minority councils, remains unfilled. The National Assembly’s Committee on Culture and Information suspended the nomination process for that group on June 25, pending elections for new minority councils. The session was open to the public, attended by journalists as well as representatives of the Irish and Norwegian embassies, the OSCE, and the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia.
Who Were the Candidates
This time Valic Nedeljkovic, Garic, Milan Petkovic, and Snezana Miljkovic were nominated for chair. After the first round of voting, Garic and Valic Nedeljkovic emerged as the front runners, and they remained tied in the second round, four votes each.
Three Proposals to Break the Deadlock
The session considered three proposals for resolving the impasse. The first was for the chair to go to the member with the shorter remaining term and the deputy chair to the member with the longer one, meaning Garic and Ira Prodanov Krajisnik. The second proposed deciding both posts by drawing lots, with the chairmanship rotating afterward. The third, that Prodanov Krajisnik become chair, was rejected because of the length of her term, six years; Council members had initially agreed she would serve as deputy rather than chair.
After the session, Valic Nedeljkovic said the Council’s negotiations were nonetheless moving forward.
“The outcome is still unresolved, but we have concluded that our negotiations are progressing and have been conducted in a dynamic and positive tone, and I am confident that we will find a solution through further consultations.”
She added that dialogue among Council members exists and that she expects an outcome in the period ahead.
“It’s important that the dialogue exists and that dialogue will lead to a solution. I am confident in good faith that everyone wants this deadlock resolved, and I believe it will be resolved sooner or later.”
Two Earlier Attempts, Same Result
This marks the third consecutive failed attempt to elect a REM Council chair. At the first constitutive session on July 20, Garic and Mileva Malesic each received four votes in the secret ballot. At the second, on July 30, Garic and Valic Nedeljkovic were nominated but neither secured the required majority; only seven members attended that session, since Prodanov Krajisnik was absent for health reasons.
The REM Council currently consists of Garic, Stevica Smederevac, Petkovic, Miljkovic, Valic Nedeljkovic, Prodanov Krajisnik, Malesic, and Rodoljub Sabic. The latter four are members who had previously submitted resignations to the National Assembly; on July 11 they announced their return to the Council after parliament determined those resignations carried no legal effect.
The session also produced an agreement that changes how often the body meets: the Council will now convene every first and third Tuesday of the month, rather than scheduling sessions case by case. That means the next attempt to elect a chair, barring an agreement reached outside a formal session, will come around mid September.
Under the Council’s rules of procedure, the regular session that began on September 1 runs until July 15 of the following year, meaning this line up will carry the body through the entire next cycle, regardless of when the question of the chair is finally settled.
