On 28 May 2005, the National Assembly marked the first anniversary of the first visit and regular opening of the Open Door Day visitor programme.

Since May 2004, every last Saturday of a month, the highest legislative body in the country has been open for all members of the public wishing to feel the spirit of parliamentarianism. The visitors may tour spaces where deputies work, sit in deputies’ benches, vote, and see a film on the work of the National Assembly.

In addition to taking a mock vote, the most interesting part of the visit, according to members of the public who have visited the parliament so far, is talking to National Assembly Chairman, Predrag Markovic, the Assembly Secretary, Marko Danilovic, and deputies.

The hosts – Assembly officials and the Assembly support service – have tried to answer numerous questions posed by the visitors, as well as to explain and clarify the procedure of adopting legislation and work of deputies, and make the visitors’ stay more interesting and pleasant.

A recent event that caused significant public attention was the uncovering of a 1924 painting by Ivan Tisov that had been hidden for decades behind a support wall for the ventilation system in the old part of the Assembly building; this caused even greater interest for visiting the parliament.

In one year, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia was toured by more than 2,000 visitors. It is interesting to note that, in addition to organised groups of secondary school and university students, members of the public of all ages are interested in visiting the parliament.

The National Assembly celebrated this small jubilee in a busy fashion – holding an Open Door Day. The Assembly was also visited by OSCE officials, headed by Johan Homs, Senior Advisor for Parliamentary Reform, with whose support the realisation of the programme began.

Deputies Vojkan Tomic and Petar Madzarevic, as well as National Assembly Secretary, Marko Danilovic, spoke to the visitors. In addition to members of the public, the Assembly was visited by students of the Veljko Vlahovic Secondary School from Koceljeva, the Vrsac Chemical Technical School, as well as by students from two primary schools: Petar Kocic from Cestereg and Branko Radicevic from Ravno Selo.