Hajdinović: They falsified the report of the Committee in order for nine unauthorized proposers for the REM Council to be harmonized.

According to the recently concluded agreement on candidates for the Council of REM, the outcome of the elections in the "councils of national minorities" category could play a decisive role in whether the regulatory body will ultimately be under government control.

Namely, in at least four categories, candidates are being voted on in the Assembly who are not under the influence of the authorities.

Yesterday, **Dušan Aleksić**, **Dubravka Valić Nedeljković** (from the child protection organizations category), **Đorđe Vlajić**, and **Mileva Malešić** (from journalistic associations) were elected.

Today, they were joined by **Ira Prodanov Krajišnik** and **Mladen Matičević** (film artists), as well as **Antonela Riha** and **Rodoljub Šabić** (freedom of expression).

The authorities clearly understood that they might lose control over the regulatory body, so in the category where candidates are proposed by the councils of national minorities, in addition to three authorized proposers, they invited nine from the Coordination of National Councils of National Minorities.

This body is not mentioned on the [list of authorized proposers](http://www.parlament.gov.rs/upload/documents/JavniPoziv_dokumentacija/02-808_25.pdf) which was concluded by the Committee for Culture and Information of the National Assembly of Serbia at a recent session.

Despite the fact that the Coordination is not mentioned in the Law on Electronic Media, and the call for agreement in the Assembly states that they should designate "one representative for each of the three authorized proposers," today 12 representatives from various national councils appeared. In addition to the three invited, nine came from the Coordination of National Councils (which has a total of 24 members).

In the category of national councils for the Council of REM, **Ištvan Bodžoni** (Hungarian), **Muhedin Fijuljanin** (Bosniak), and **Ljumturije Ameti** (Albanian national minority) were proposed.

Through voting, Bodžoni (with 10 votes) and Fijuljanin (with 12) were elected, while Ameti received two votes.

Had only the authorized proposers voted, it is clear that Fijuljanin and Ameti would have received two votes each, and Bodžoni one. Representatives of the Bosniak and Albanian national minorities, in fact, supported each other, as **Mirza Hajdinović** from the Bosniak National Council stated for Cenzolovka.

He emphasizes that for him, nine votes are invalid.

"We have said that only representatives of the three proposers are legitimate for us, but they distributed ballots to those who came to vote unauthorized," says Hajdinović and adds:

"This was all falsified by the expert service of the National Assembly of Serbia. The minutes of the Committee for Culture and Information from October 14 clearly state who the established proposers and candidates are, and there is no mention of the Coordination."

Hajdinović explains that the Coordination is an informal body in which the national councils periodically exchange experiences, but that the law does not recognize it as a proposer for the Council of REM.

"I drew the attention of the Assembly service and representatives of the international community to the fact that the law was violated. The only authorized proposers for REM are the national councils. At the Committee meeting, it was established which councils are proposers. Other councils could have been included, but that was not decided at that time and cannot be added retroactively," says Hajdinović.

He explains that the national councils of Bosniaks and Albanians supported each other because there are significant problems in Southern Serbia when it comes to information, but they did not find understanding.

If the law is respected, the agreement in this category would have to be repeated.

In that case, the candidate from the Hungarian minority would be eliminated, so in the end, there would be five members in the Council of REM out of nine who are not under the influence of the authorities.

**CIVIL INITIATIVES: EXPERT SERVICE OF THE ASSEMBLY GROSSLY VIOLATED THE LAW**

The non-governmental organization Civic Initiatives assessed that today's decision of the Expert Service of the National Assembly represents "an open violation of the Law on Electronic Media."

"By including nine new proposers in the voting on candidates for the Council of REM, the expert service acted contrary to the report of the Committee published on October 14, 2025, and thus grossly violated the law and the credibility of the process," [it states in the GI announcement](https://www.gradjanske.org/grubo-krsenje-zakona-o-elektronskim-medijima-u-procesu-izbora-saveta-rem-a/).

"At the meeting of the Coordination of National Councils of National Minorities, the expert service allowed national councils that did not participate in the previous process to vote. In this group of authorized proposers, candidates were proposed by the Bosniak National Council, the Albanian National Council, and the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority. At the meeting held earlier today, nine national councils that initially did not propose their candidates and did not participate in the process were illegally invited to vote and thus do not have the right to vote.

In the very invitation sent to the national councils, the National Assembly stated that one representative should be sent for each of the three authorized proposers, not for twelve, as ultimately participated in the voting. In this way, the integrity of the process was directly compromised and allowed for the candidate of the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority, Ištvan Bodžoni, to be selected. This violates the Law on Electronic Media, as, according to the current rules, only candidates Muhedin Fijuljanin and Lumturija Ameti had a legitimate number of votes, having received the highest number of votes in this group of three authorized proposers.

It is completely illegal to include proposers in this phase of the process who did not propose their candidates. We demand that in this category, the illegitimate ballots be annulled and that the candidates who received the highest number of votes from legitimate proposers, namely Muhedin Fijuljanin and Lumturija Ameti, be declared successful," announced Civic Initiatives.

### **BIOGRAPHIES**

#### **UNIVERSITIES: Vanja Šibalić and Milan Petković**

In the category of accredited universities, the highest number of votes went to Vanja Šibalić and Milan Petković. Competing for selection were **Predrag Kajganić**, **Irina Milutinović**, and **Alen Omerović**.

**Vanja Šibalić**

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU). She was proposed for the Council of REM by the University of Belgrade and the University of Arts in Belgrade.

Since 1997, she has been employed at FDU, and since 2021, she has been an associate professor for the subjects Television Production, Programming Audiovisual Content, and Television Studies.

She was the organizer of the production of the Cultural-Educational Program of Radio-Television Serbia.

**Milan Petković**

Doctor of Economic Sciences and graduated mechanical engineer. From 1997 to 2015, he worked in electronic media in Niš. He was an advisor in the Ministry of Culture and Information.

He also served as the president of the Educational-Informational Center from Niš, co-president of the Coalition of Media Employees, president of the Executive Board of the Professional Association of Journalists of Serbia – PROUNS, and a member of the Executive Board of the Journalists’ Union of Serbia – SINOS.

#### **FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Rodoljub Šabić and Antonela Riha**

Associations aimed at achieving freedom of expression voted for **Rodoljub Šabić** and **Antonela Riha**. **Jasmina Ninković** was not selected.

**Rodoljub Šabić**

He served as the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection from 2005 to 2018. Since 2019, he has been engaged in legal practice at his office. Since 2023, he has been a member of the appeals commission at the Press Council.

**Antonela Riha**

She has decades of experience as a journalist and editor, gained through work at Radio Belgrade, RTV B92, and RTS. She has worked as a reporter, news desk journalist, news editor, and program author.

The show "Kažiprst," which Riha edited, won the Jug Grizelj award.

#### **NATIONAL MINORITIES: Ištvan Bodžoni and Muhedin Fijuljanin**

The councils of national minorities voted for **Ištvan Bodžoni** and **Muhedin Fijuljanin** in a manner inconsistent with the law. Ljumturije Ameti did not pass, for now.

**Ištvan Bodžoni**

He is a candidate for the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority.

In the previous process, his candidacy was problematic because he was involved in the ownership structures and editorial boards of several media outlets. However, he retired at the beginning of the year, thus "cleansing" his application.

**Muhedin Fijuljanin**

He is a candidate from the Bosniak National Council. He is a member of the Executive Board of the BNV, head of the Information Department, and has been vice president of the Executive Board and vice president of the Bosniak National Council for two terms (2014-2022).

In October 2020, the Serbian government appointed him as the acting director of the newly established Scientific-Educational Center "Pešter" in Sjenica.

#### **FILM ARTISTS: Mladen Matičević and Ira Prodanov Krajišnik**

Associations of film, stage, and dramatic artists, as well as associations of composers, voted for **Mladen Matičević** and **Ira Prodanov Krajišnik**. They withdrew their candidacies in June due to irregularities in the process.

Not selected were **Vladimir Đurić Đura**, **Predrag Kotur**, **Željko Hubač**, **Ivan Lalić**, **Tea Dimitrijević**, **Dragoljub Ilić**, **Gorica Popović**, and **Predrag Momčilović**.

**Mladen Matičević**

Director, screenwriter, and producer. He was proposed by the Association of Film Artists of Serbia.

He graduated from the Department of Film and TV Directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. He participated in the realization of several feature and documentary films and TV series, such as "Neki novi klinci," "Nebeska tema," "Besa," etc.

**Ira Prodanov Krajišnik**

Doctor of Musicology and full professor at the Academy of Arts, University of Novi Sad. Since 1997, she has collaborated with the daily newspaper Dnevnik, Radio, and TV Novi Sad.

In 2016, she founded the first master's study program in Serbia – Music and Media.

She is a music critic for Dnevnik, Muzika klasika, and an editor or editorial board member of several journals.

**Source:** [Cenzolovka](https://www.cenzolovka.rs/drzava-i-mediji/hajdinovic-falsifikovali-izvestaj-odbora-kako-bi-na-usaglasavanje-doslo-9-neovlascenih-predlagaca-za-savet-rem-a/)