Despite what Prince-Regent Alexander, Prime Minister Ivan Ribar, and the Parliament might like to think, the unification of Yugoslavia still had quite a few more hoops to jump through and by July 1919, those problems had yet to be even thought of.

On July 16th 1919, the Provisional People's Representation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was called, and immediately told that the session would need elongated, thoughtful debate and controlled response as many, MANY issues were pushed to the front.

While the Yugoslav Army was being raised and expanded, Serbia struggled to produce a harvest due to the sheer amount of men lost in the Great War. While a plan for a trans-Balkan railroad was drafted, Slovenians and Croats alike struggled and chafed under the chains of Italian occupation. Appeals for help and protection from the Yugoslav Army came from Montenegro, from the border zones to Albania, Bulgaria and Hungary, from Slovenia and Carinthia, from northern Dalmatia occupied by the Italian army, and there were simply and clearly not enough men to go around.

Minister of Post and Telegraph Ede Lukinić opened the parliamentary session with the following speech: "In Serbia," Dr. Lukinić began, "There are not even enough horses, cars and carriages to establish minimal postal traffic. On the other hand, at least 200 horses and 190 carriages would be required by the experts involved with the situation, but have found them impossible to obtain. My Honorable Colleague Minister of Public Health Dr. Krulj, when hundreds of people were dying of mildew, Spanish fever, and diphtheria daily in Serbia during the past few days, was unable to transport medicines towels from Zemun to Belgrade for a whole month because there was no manpower and horses. We must be careful not to think that what a terrible war has destroyed in a few years can be repaired in three months."

Along these lines, citizen requests poured into the session. Bokor Karolyi from Subotica asked for a stone for spraying vineyards, Jovan Vasic, retired lieutenant-colonel, begged to know why he was retired, Milka Milovanovic from Lucin demanded the establishment of public safety and security, Draginja Katic demanded that the Assembly release her from disorderly burglaries, Grujica Nikolic from Rush asked to work with the Spiritual Court, to get licenses for divorce faster (there were many of these actually), while a large number of citizens from North Dalmatia complained about the terror of the Italian occupying authorities and demanded immediate protection and presence of Yugoslav troops.

The following delegates were elected to the Provisional People's Representative Office: the Serbian National Assembly and other national representative organizations in the liberated regions, namely the National Council in Zagreb for Slovenia, Croatia, Slavonia and Istria , the Provincial Government in Split for Dalmatia , the Grand National Assembly in Cetinje for Black Gora, National Assembly in Sarajevo for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Vojvodina National Assembly in Novi Sad. In terms of the number of deputies of each province in the Provisional People's Representation, the following were represented:

• Slovenia with 32 deputies

• Croatia with Rijeka and Međumurje with 60 deputies

• Istria with 4 deputies

• Vojvodina with 24 deputies

• Dalmatia with 12 deputies

• Bosnia and Herzegovina with 42 deputies

• Serbia, Montenegro and Southern Serbia with a combined 120 deputies

The President of the Croatian Peoples' People's Party, Stjepan Radic, informed the Provisional People's Representative that the two deputies, whom were supposed to delegate by decision of the National Council in Zagreb, would not participate in the Assembly.

The Coalition of the Slovenian People's Party, the Democratic Party and the Social-Democratic Party, headed by Prime Minister Ivan Ribar hold the majority in Parliament, but compromise clearly would still be needed, and the Slovenians were only so happy with the coalition given that action had still not been taken against the Italian occupation in Istria and Rijka.

Prince-Regent Alexander requested the floor from Prime Minister Ivan Ribar in order to give a speech before the Assembly.

"Gentlemen of the People, on behalf of His Majesty our King Peter I, I greet you and through you all our people, who you represent today. I greet all the brothers of the famous name of Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian. I share with you all the unlimited joy that our cherished thought is worth to experience the day when, for the first time in our long historical life, we were exalted by our own happiness: to begin in only one National Assembly, in only one National Representative Office, as independent masters of our destiny, the noble cooperation of the Crown and the People, for the good of our beautiful united Fatherland and all her sons and daughters."

"We hope that our noble Allies will be guided only by the principles that they have publicly prescribed and proclaimed for congressional decisions themselves. We are not looking for anything that is not right, because we are not looking for anything that is truly someone else's. We want to allow our brothers and other people living together with them in our people's house to decide for themselves their own destiny."

"Many difficult tasks stand before you. The future expects you to carefully and without slowing down, prepare and construct the parts of our new state building we need most; the present is eagerly looking at you, and to heal the severe wounds inflicted upon the enemy, and to begin as soon as possible and the unrestrained tearing of ancient shackles, which the alien system still maintains in us. I hope that in the parliamentary agreement with my government, you will unanimously and resolutely overcome the enormous difficulties that have stood in the way of us entering our new state and national life .... And in the same sense, the fruits of the internal state development, which have earned Serbia a well-deserved voice throughout our nation, as soon as it is transplanted into every other state area by the interim Constitution, under which we will rule and govern, until the Grand National Assembly, as the constituting body, finally drafts the fundamental law of our Kingdom."

"Long live all My faithful Serbs, Croats and Slovenes!"