WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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SOURCE:ANTENA M-AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
The Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform of the Parliament of Montenegro continued its work today.
The MPs spoke about the Draft Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns. PES MP Vasilije Čarapić said that the new legal solution envisages increasing the limit for financing political campaigns from 20 to 30 percent.
This decision was criticized by the executive director of the CDT, Dragan Koprivica.
The session also analyzed the situation in Šavnik, due to the impossibility of holding elections. While the opposition claims that the Committee is not responsible for solving the problems in that municipality, the parliamentary majority asks who is?
Course of the session:
Democrat MP Nikola Rovčanin said that an anti-European state of affairs is in force in Šavnik.
"The Committee must take this into account. We must solve the problem of double voters and the electoral roll in Šavnik. If we are to make the work of the Committee more serious, we all need to offer a solution. A specific legal project for this problem must be specified, such as our Bill on the Electoral Roll. The intention is not to bypass the Committee," said Rovčanin.
DPS MP Nikola Rakočević said that he would not specifically talk about the Democrats' Bill.
"This Committee can only consider laws that are the result of the work of the working groups of this Committee. This Committee is not the parent committee of the law you proposed because it was not proposed by the Committee but by a political party. The proposal is that we discuss your idea of how to resolve the situation in Šavnik, and we will discuss the law in this Committee when it is proposed by the Committee. I call on all MPs not to propose laws in particular," said Rakočević.
Rovčanin said that the intention of the bill is because the Committee is not working.
"The Committee is in some way outside the situation that is happening in Šavnik, only within the framework of certain analyses. The Committee should not analyze but provide concrete solutions. For a year and a half, the Committee has been silent about the alarming situation in Šavnik, I understand the rulebook that the Committee should come up with some legal solutions, but we have not even formed working groups. A lot has been missed and all the time the citizens of Šavnik remain trapped and I understand why they are taking certain measures," said Rovčanin.
Rakočević said in response that the Committee cannot resolve the situation in Šavnik and added that it is not competent for that.
"The MEC is competent for the situation in Šavnik, which must act according to the decisions of the SEC. Laws on the conduct of elections cannot be changed while the elections are ongoing," said Rakočević.
PES MP Vasilije Čarapić, speaking about the Draft Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns, said that in large part, in accordance with suggestions from state institutions, this law better defines reporting when it comes to financing political campaigns.
"We have introduced obligations to publish annual financial reports and work plans on the websites of political entities. We have adjusted the limits on campaign financing, the current limit is inadequate for small municipalities and then people are forced to break the law. Now we have introduced a limit of ten thousand euros. We have adjusted the way campaign funds are allocated, so the amount given in advance has been increased from 20 to 30 percent. All registered lists will receive ten percent more from the budget before the elections, thus supporting new political entities and civic lists," said Čarapić.
He added that they have expanded the list of entities that are prohibited from financing political parties.
"The tobacco industry will no longer be able to do so and we are not the first to introduce this solution. When we talk about the way the campaign is run and employment during the campaign, we have regulated that employment under service contracts in all state-owned enterprises and agencies is not allowed," he points out.
He adds that if an infrastructure project is ready, a ribbon-cutting ceremony cannot be organized while the campaign is ongoing, but, as he says, the facility can be put into operation, and the ceremony can be held after the campaign.
Dragan Koprivica from CDT states that the biggest shortcoming of the law is that there are no mechanisms that prevent circumvention of the rules and that there are no adequate penalties.
"That is also stated in the new non-paper. My request is that it should not remain that way. As for money for parties, at the municipal and state levels it is currently 11.2 million and with the new proposal it would be over 15 million. I would like to know why we were not entitled to attend that conversation, when Čarapić said that it was a political agreement between the parties. I think this amount was exaggerated. Good luck spending it," says Koprivica.
Speaking about the analysis of the situation in Šavnik, due to the impossibility of holding elections, PES MP Vasilije Čarapić states that when it comes to Šavnik, everyone is washing their hands of their responsibilities, and the problem remains.
"If we had elections in one day, the concept of election tourism like we have in Šavnik would not exist," Čarapić pointed out.
Democrat MP Momčilo Leković believes that the current mayor of Šavnik has Jugoslav Jakić in the interest of, as he says, the situation in that municipality not being resolved.
"I heard that this committee cannot resolve the situation in Šavnik. I don't know if I can agree with that. This committee can definitely propose a solution, and the Legislative Committee and the plenary itself can resolve it. If this committee and the Assembly cannot resolve it, I don't know who can and what are we then," says Leković.
The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Novica Obradović, pointed out that this department has formed a working group dealing with the voter list, and that field controls have been carried out.
SD MP Nikola Zirojević said that in addition to Šavnik, Kotor should also be discussed.
"It's a shorter period of time, but it seems to me that Kotor will catch up with Šavnik. There too, we have the fact that the rerun of elections in two electoral districts has been prevented, the old convocation of the local parliament has re-elected the mayor, the MEC is not implementing decisions... That's why colleague Rakočević from the Democrats does not want to talk about Kotor, but only about Šavnik," said Zirojević.
He adds that the question has been raised as to who can solve this problem.
"The Parliament of Montenegro - no. The Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform - no. The executive branch - yes. The executive branch should have solved this problem from the start and the executive branch should not have allowed this to happen. Colleagues from the Democrats who are proposing this law, which renders the work of this committee meaningless and which abolishes the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform, wondered why the committee was formed? The committee was formed to prepare numerous legal solutions, including the law on the voter register, which does not specifically concern Šavnik," said Zirojević.
The SD MP emphasizes that the law on the voter list must be changed not only because of Šavnik.
"The laws that define this issue already exist. What is the problem? The problem is that the executive branch has not been implementing the laws we have since October 2022. We claim that over 200 newly registered voters have already voted for the coalition for the future of Šavnik and the coalition of the United Democrats and PES at polling stations where voting has ended. What will we do with them? And now watch the miracles. A genius has found himself to suggest that at these two polling stations, where the electoral process has not ended, we change the voter list as he likes, and at these where there are 200 votes from newly registered voters, the situation will remain the same. We are not that stupid," Zirojević emphasized.
