Bodžoni, however, is not in the race for the REM Council: The assembly has approved the amendment to the list of candidates.

At today's session of the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and Information, an amendment to the List of Candidates for the election of members of the REM Council was adopted, following the public indication by the proposers and 12 candidates of irregularities in voting in the national minority councils category. Thus, the list from which nine members of the REM Council will be elected from 18 candidates has finally been harmonized, one from each of the nine categories.

Eleven representatives voted for the amendments, while two were against.

A public hearing with the candidates is scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, after which the election of the REM Council will be placed on the agenda of the next session of the National Assembly of Serbia.

What was controversial?

As a reminder, in the document published on October 14 on the National Assembly's website, the list of organizations considered to be a single authorized proposer in the category of "national councils of national minorities" includes: the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority (candidate Ištvan Bodžoni), the Bosniak National Council (candidate Muhedin Fijuljanin), and the National Council of the Albanian National Minority (candidate Ljumturije Ameti).

The same data was included in the invitation sent to the authorized proposers from the Hungarian Council and the Bosniak Council, but not to the representatives of the Albanian National Minority.

The invitation emphasized "that one representative be appointed for each of the three authorized proposers listed."

The invitation for harmonization called on councils to appoint one representative for three authorized proposers. However, the number 3 magically transformed into 12 representatives of national minorities during the harmonization process.

The Bosniak National Council voted for its and the Albanian candidate, the National Council of the Albanian National Minority for its and the Bosniak candidate, while the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority voted for its and the Bosniak candidate.

The outcome of that voting would have moved forward in the parliamentary procedure with two votes from the Bosniak and Albanian representatives, specifically Fijuljanin and Ameti, while the Hungarian candidate Bodžoni would not have advanced with just one vote.

However, with an additional nine votes from unauthorized proposers, the result was as follows: Muhedin Fijuljanin received all 12 votes, while Ištvan Bodžoni received 10 votes. Ameti received two votes.

Final list of harmonized candidates for members of the REM Council:

Candidates from independent institutions: Stevica Smederevac and Gordana Predić

Candidates from churches and religious communities: Snežana Miljković and Mevlud Dudić

Candidates from electronic media publishers: Miloš Garić and Jovana Vitez

Candidates from children’s protection associations: Dušan Aleksić and Dubravka Valić Nedeljković

Candidates from journalists' associations: Đorđe Vlajić and Mileva Malešić

Candidates from universities: Milan Petković and Vanja Šibalić

Candidates from associations focused on the protection of freedom of expression: Rodoljub Šabić and Antonela Riha

Candidates from national minority councils: Muhedin Fijuljanin and Ljumturije Ameti

Candidates from associations of composers and film, stage, and drama artists: Ira Prodanov Krajišnik and Mladen Matičević

Source: ANEM