Serbian constitutional referendum, 2006

A constitutional referendum was held in Serbia on 28 and 29 October 2006, in which voters decided on adopting a new Constitution. The constitution is Serbia's first as an independent state since the Kingdom of Serbia's 1903 constitution. Over 6.6 million people were entitled to vote in the national referendum.

Background

The previous Constitution of Serbia was adopted in the 1990 referendum, when Slobodan Milošević served as president of Serbia. Another referendum was held in 1992, although due to low turnout, proposed changes were not implemented. Milošević was overthrown in October 2000, after which the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition came to power. As one of the pre-election promises, DOS had wanted to hold a new constitutional referendum, although it failed to do so. Vojislav Koštunica and Zoran Đinđić, who headed the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and Democratic Party (DS) respectively, had ended up in a dispute which led to the dissolution of DOS. Following Đinđić's assassination in March 2003, parliamentary elections were held in December, although they were inconclusive due to low voter turnout. The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) placed first in the election, although it was excluded from government formation talks. Koštunica became the prime minister of Serbia in March 2004. A constitutional initiative was also sent to the National Assembly in the same year. Two constitutional drafts were later published; the government had published its own draft in June 2004, while the president's office published it in January 2005. A number of scholars had published projects regarding the Constitution after 2004.

An independence referendum was held in Montenegro on 21 May 2006. Majority of the voters had voted in favor of independence, which marked the end of State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Due to the declaration of independence of Montenegro, a new constitution had to be implemented.

Conduct

Kosovo Albanians had boycotted elections since 1990, and because of it, they could not vote in the referendum.

Proposed changes

The National Assembly adopted the draft, with 242 votes in favor, on 30 September. It also set 28 and 29 October as the dates of the referendum. The draft was the result of a compromise between major political parties.

In the preamble, it was defined that Kosovo is an "integral part" of Serbia with a fundamental autonomy. Additionally, it also defines Serbia as an independent state and it mentions the Serbian Cyrillic script as the only official alphabet in use, while minority languages could use other alphabets at the local level. After the adoption of the new constitution, minority and human rights would be guaranteed, while Vojvodina also received a form of self-rule. It also introduced a ban on death penalty. The constitution had also proclaimed Kosovo to be "an integral part of Serbia" and that it would have a "wide" autonomy.

Differences between the 1990 Constitution and the 2006 draft are noticeable. Social property was abolished, while private, cooperative, and public property would be only acknowledged. The title of Ombudsman would be introduced alongside the right to constitutional appeal against individual acts of state bodies. The role of the Constitutional Court would be strengthened, which together with the National Assembly could replace the directly elected president. Supreme Court of Cassation would become the highest judicial instance.

Journalist pointed out that in the third paragraph of Article 24 it is mentioned that "cloning of human beings is prohibited".

Reception

Nick Hawton of BBC
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