Student List MPs Signed a Pledge: Break It and You Have Resigned

Every candidate of the Student List, which won a parliamentary majority in Serbia's 25 October election, signed a declaration committing them to stay in the caucus and to follow the movement's programme, on pain of being deemed to have resigned. The text was published on 3 November on the website of the Students in Blockade movement, alongside the candidates' names, and reproduced in full by Danas and 021.rs.

What the candidates declared

In the first part, each candidate states that they never gained unlawful financial benefit from cooperation with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) or the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), never misused public office, and have no final conviction carrying more than a year in prison. They also declare that they were never members of a long list of parties, including the SNS and SPS, never held senior posts in parliamentary opposition parties, and never served as an MP, minister or state secretary for the outgoing ruling coalition.

What they promise as MPs

If elected, they pledge to remain in the organisation that nominated them and not to switch parliamentary groups until the end of their term, not to break the law, and never to vote for proposals that contradict the list's programme. They also commit to working for all the demands of Students in Blockade and the goals set out in its “Social Agreement” and “Programme Minimum”.

The final clause says that if any statement proves false, or if the MP fails in their duties or departs from the programme, they are considered to have resigned from the day this is established.

Can it be enforced?

Danas noted that under Serbia's Constitution an MP holds the mandate personally and is not obliged to return it to the list that nominated them, although MPs have resigned in such circumstances before. The declaration therefore works mainly as a public political commitment: it is not clear that it could be enforced against an MP who refused to step down.

Signed or undated resignations handed to party leaders were long a contested practice in Serbia; in the late 2000s, the EU asked Belgrade in its candidacy questionnaire whether it planned to revise or abolish them, Radio Free Europe reported at the time. Supporters of the Student List see the new pledge as a safeguard against MPs defecting, a frequent complaint in past parliaments. Pro-government tabloids framed it as voting under orders. The new parliament is due to be constituted by 10 December.