Serbia's president Tomislav Nikolic on Thursday entrusted Ivica Dacic, the leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), with the mandate to form the new government in the country.
Nikolic said this at a news conference in a break of his meeting with Dacic, explaining that the SPS-led coalition had presented him with arguments that it had secured a parliamentary majority for establishing the new government.
This majority will include the SPS as well as the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) at whose helm Nikolic had been until his recent election as Serbia's president, and the United Regions of Serbia (URS) led by Mladjan Dinkic, with a possibility for other parties to join this governing coalition.
Under the Serbian constitution, the deadline for the formation of the new government is 90 days since the inaugural session of parliament. If the deadline expires, the parliament should be dissolved and new elections held within 60 days of the parliament's dissolution. The new 250-seat parliament was inaugurated on 31 May.
The coalition led by the SNS won 73 seats in the national assembly in the May 6 elections, while the coalition headed by the Democratic Party (DS) of Boris Tadic won 67 seats. They were followed by the coalition led by the SPS of Ivica Dacic with 44 seats, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) of Vojislav Kostunica with 19 seats and the coalition headed by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Cedomir Jovanovic with 19 seats, while the United Regions of Serbia (URS) secured 16 seats.
