Koncept narodnog predstavništva i kontroverze o parlamentarnom mandatu u srpskom ustavu
The Concept of people’s representative and controversies about parliamentary Term of office in the constitution of Serbia

Summary/Abstract: The 2006 Constitution of the Republic of Serbia fails to explicitly determine the legal status of deputy’s term of office, and concerning the legal status of deputies, it gives them absolute freedom in using their terms of office. The concept of people’s representative and citizens’ sovereignty in a constitutional democracy were thus seriously jeopardized. The concept that a deputy can “freely“ use his/her term of office in a system of “free mandate“ is untenable, because it legalizes blank resignation letters and allows political parties to act as a kind of constitutional bodies. That is, corrections of a free mandate in the modern constitutional state where “parliament of outstanding individuals“ is replaced by a “parliament consisting of political parties“ cannot aim to limit the freedom of thought and opinions, what is granted to deputies. In spite of corrections of deputy’s term of office and representation in a modern constitutional state, the free mandate principle is one of the fundaments of the parliamentary democracy doctrine. Political parties can pursue their causes within a constitutional framework which does not allow for parties to directly participate in exercising power to subjecting the authority to themselves.

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