The National Assembly’s first session, convened by the Chairperson of the previous convocation of the National Assembly, Natasa Micic, started at 10 a.m. on 27 January 2004.

The session was chaired by the oldest deputy, Professor Dr Velimir Simonovic, assisted by the youngest deputies elected from the lists of parties with the greatest number of votes won - Zlata Radovanovic, from the Serbian Radical Party - Dr Vojislav Seselj list, Dusan Prorokovic, from the Democratic Party of Serbia - Dr Vojislav Kostunica list, Vladimir Petkovic, from the Democratic Party - Boris Tadic list, and Ivan Zivadinovic, from the G17 Plus - Miroljub Labus list, as well as by the Secretary of the National Assembly, Andjelka Dimitrijevic.

The National Assembly set the following agenda:

1. Verification of deputies’ mandates;
2. Election of the Chairperson of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia;
3. Election of the Vice-chairperson of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia;
4. Election of members of bodies of the National Assembly of Serbia;
5. Nomination of the Secretary of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

On the basis of the Report of the Committee on Verifying Attestations of Election as Deputy and the Report of the Republic Electoral Commission on the conducted elections, the National Assembly verified the mandates of all the deputies.

The Assembly then went on to vote openly, by roll call, on candidates for the office of Chairperson of the National Assembly. According to nominations submitted, the list of candidates for the office of Chairperson of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia was set as: Dragan Marsicanin, nominated by a group of 74 deputies, and Gordana Pop-Lazic, nominated by a group of 81 deputies.

As neither of the two candidates won the required majority of votes, the chairman noted that the National Assembly had failed to elect a Chairperson, and that the election process would be repeated.

Election of Chairman and Vice-chairman

On the third day of the session (4 February), the National Assembly repeated the procedure for electing the Chairman of the National Assembly. Two candidates were nominated: Dragan Marsicanin, put forward by a group of 53 deputies, and Gordana Pop-Lazic, nominated by a group of 82 deputies.

Open voting, by roll call, resulted in the election of Dragan Marsicanin, who then took over the chairing of the session. Dragan Marsicanin received 128 votes, while 81 of the deputies present voted for Gordana Pop-Lazic.

Chairman Marsicanin then informed the deputies that the following deputies' groups had been formed: the Serbian Radical Party deputies' group, headed by deputy Tomislav Nikolic as chairman and deputy Aleksandar Vucic as vice-chairman, the Democratic Party - Boris Tadic deputies' group, headed by deputy Boris Tadic as chairman and deputy Goran Svilanovic as vice-chairman, the G17 Plus deputies' group, headed by Goran Paunovic as chairman and deputy Ksenija Milivojevic as vice-chairperson, the Serbian Renewal Movement - New Serbia deputies' group, headed by deputy Vuk Draskovic as chairman and deputy Velimir Ilic as vice-chairman, and the Socialist Party of Serbia deputies' group, headed by dedputy Ivica Dacic as chairman and deputy Dr Zarko Obradovic as vice-chairman.

The third item on the agenda dealt with the creation of a list of candidates for the positions of National Assembly Vice-chairpersons. These are:

Predrag Markovic, member of G17 Plus, Gordana Pop-Lazic, member of the Serbian Radical Party, Stefan Zankov, member of the Serbian Radical Party, and Zoran Andjelkovic, member of the Socialist Party of Serbia.

The National Assembly elected these candidates Vice-chairpersons of the National Assembly by a majority of votes.

Election of committee members and nomination of secretary

On the fourth day of work (6 February), the National Assembly elected members of the Assembly’s committees and nominated Marko Danilovic secretary of the National Assembly. This concluded the constituting session of the National Assembly.