WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR: M.J.
We have two key priorities that need to be resolved at this meeting. The first thing is to return to the work of the Committee on Electoral Legislation. This is important for obtaining IBAR, and we ask the Government to withdraw the decision on forced administration in Šavnik. We also proposed to draft a set of proposals for changes to electoral laws - said Nikola Rakočević of the Democratic Party of Socialists after a meeting of representatives of parliamentary parties with the aim of finding a model to resolve the political crisis in Savnik in the Assembly of Montenegro.
It seems to him, as he stated, that they have reached an agreement on that.
- Our proposal is to resolve the issue of Šavnik as soon as possible, because otherwise we send a bad image to Brussels - said Rakočević.
As he points out, there will be no sublimation of a political agreement that is not in accordance with the law and the Constitution.
- The state auditing institution has reached the conclusion that at least two election seats should be contested again. It is the only legal solution. We can talk about a political agreement only after the election activities in Šavnik are over. Those who broke the boxes and stole the material must not be absolved of responsibility - said Rakočević.
The opposition, he adds, insisted that the prosecutor's office form a case of personal and collective responsibility for what happened in Šavnik.
- We believe that a solution will be found, and the only solution is for all political entities to talk to their representatives from the election commission in Šavnik - believes Rakočević.
He adds that "one political group has power in numerous municipalities, but the problem is only where the opposition wins".
- Laws and institutions exist so that they don't grab each other's necks on the streets - said Rakočević.
An invitation to dialogue
The invitation to the dialogue was sent by the head of the parliamentary group Pokreta Evropa sad Vasilije Čarapić, who is also the co-chairman of the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform.
In addition to Čarapić, Albanian Forum MP Nikola Camaj, Democratic People's Party (DNP) MP Maja Vukićević, Nikola Rakočević from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), as well as Socialist People's Party (SNP) MP Bogdan Božović attended the meeting. Among those present are Social Democrats (SD) MP Boris Mugoša, Maja Vučelić from CIVIS, as well as MPs Admir Adrović, Nikola Rovčanin, Adrijan Vuksanović and MP Simonida Kordić.
We remind you that the DPS previously said that they accept the dialogue on the condition that the Government withdraws its decision on the introduction of forced administration in Šavnik.
The legal chaos in Šavnik has been going on since October 2022, when nine attempts to go to the polling stations in the Municipality building and the village of Kruševica failed because members of the polling committees from the "For the Future of Šavnik" coalition did not allow individual citizens to vote because, as they claimed, , do not live in that municipality.
The last such suspension of voting took place in December of the same year, and for 15 months there has been a crisis that resulted, initially, in the illegal introduction of forced administration, and then in the majority support of local councilors for shortening the already expired mandate of the Šavni parliament. The government then withdrew the decision on the formation of the board of trustees "so as not to publish two legal acts that regulate the same issue in different ways".
These illegalities were followed by the decision of President Jakov Milatović not to call elections, but to request that they be ended.
He made the same move just a few days later after the Government made a legal maneuver, activated the withdrawn decision and officially introduced compulsory administration in the municipality in the north.
Milatović stated again that new elections cannot be called in that city because, as he assessed, that would mean a violation of the legal order.
In both cases, Milatović referred to the Law on Local Self-Government, which stipulates that the mandate of the Municipal Assembly lasts four years and that it can end before the end of the term for which it was elected, by dissolving or shortening the mandate.
Given that the mandate of the Šavnik Municipal Council ended in 2022, and that the election cycle in that city has been ongoing since then, the legal team of the President of the State is of the opinion that it is legally impossible to call new elections, but that conditions should be created to end the existing ones.
483 voters have the right to vote at the polling station in the building of the Municipality of Šavnik, and 58 voters in the village of Kruševice.
