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1901 Serbian Senate election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Senate elections were held in Serbia on 5 August 1901.[1] They followed the promulgation of a new, liberal constitution in May, which created a bicameral People's Representative Body consisting of an elected National Assembly and a largely appointed Senate. The National Assembly had been elected in May 1901.

Electoral system

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The Senate consisted of 30 members appointed for life membership by the King and 18 members elected for six year terms.[1] Membership was limited to people aged 40 or over and who had paid at least 200 dinars in annual taxation, although the taxation requirement was waived for a range of former public officials, including ex-ministers and diplomats.[1] Voting rights were granted to men over the age of 21 who paid at least 45 dinars a year in direct taxation.[1]

Results

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The elections were marred by demonstrations in Belgrade, during which the police arrested and killed several demonstrators.[2] Although the People's Radical Party won a majority of seats,[3] they were only offered three ministerial positions by King Alexander,[4] with independent Aleksa Jovanović becoming Prime Minister.

Aftermath

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The combined People's Representative Body met for the first time on 1 October.[5] Rista Popović was elected as Speaker of the National Assembly and Dimitrije Marinković as Speaker of the Senate.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Čedomil Mitrinović & Miloš Brašić (1937) Les Skoupchtinas et les Diètes Yougoslaves
  2. ^ André Gerrits & Dirk Jan Wolffram (2005) Political Democracy and Ethnic Diversity in Modern European History, Stanford University Press, p40
  3. ^ Christopher Clark (2012) The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, Penguin UK
  4. ^ Alex N. Dragnich (2004) Serbia Through the Ages, East European Monographs
  5. ^ a b Octroyed Constitution and the bicameral People’s Representative Body (1901-1903) National Assembly