A constitutional referendum was held in Serbia on 16 January, in which voters decided on changing the Constitution regarding the judiciary.
The Serbian Royal Family, who hold no power or authority as they were deposed decades ago, has voted in the referendum, and the politically involved Prince Philip made a clear statement.
On both Twitter and Facebook, the son of Crown Prince Alexander published a picture of him voting with the following message: “We fulfilled our civic duty and voted in the referendum. We are concerned about the small turnout and the fact that the referendum was not conducted throughout Serbia’s territory, specifically in Kosovo and Metohija.”
In order to bring the judiciary in line with European Union legislation, the Serbian government previously proposed changing the way judges and prosecutors are elected. The Serbian National Assembly adopted it by a two-thirds majority in June 2021. The change in the law abolished the requirement for a 50 per cent turnout for referendums to be valid. Non-governmental organisations and activists opposed the change.
Kosovo does not allow Serbian votes on constitutional changes on its soil. Around seven per cent of its population are Serbs, and Serbia still considers it as part of its territory.
Over the past few years, Prince Philip of Serbia has devoted much of his time to protecting the interests of Serbs living outside Serbian-ruled territory. Last year, he took a several-day trip to Kosovo and Metohija. Earlier this year, he took part in the national day celebration of the Serbian Republic of Srpska which is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina but is inhabited by a majority of Serbs.
During the visit in January, His Royal Highness states: “Republika Srpska is not just a part of the Serbian country. It is an obligation and an inspiration for us and our descendants. Our generation has a great and historical responsibility to save the Republika Srpska from more and more frequent attempts to make it meaningless and collapse”.
