Open lists in the electoral system would break the monopoly of the party-state and party leaders, increase the responsibility of elected representatives towards the citizens and condition a greater degree of direct democracy, said the president of the Citizens' Movement URA, Dritan Abazović.
In an interview for the PR Center, he said that the deputies in the Montenegrin parliament were elected against the Constitution of Montenegro, because the election process is taking place in extraordinary circumstances, in conditions that, as he said, are not democratic and fair.
"The problem is the conditions and the way in which those mandates are reached. I believe that the biggest problem of Montenegro is the regularity of elections. If we want to have the maximum respect for the Constitution of Montenegro, then we have to create conditions in which people will be able to choose freely, fairly, with equal conditions", explained Abazović.
Montenegro, he believes, must work hard to improve the electoral environment in order to respect the Constitution and realize the true right and opportunity of citizens to be elected and to vote freely.
"Open lists would, first of all, help break the monopoly of the party state and party leaders. Open lists would help to promote new, better people and would encourage deputies to really fight for votes, in the sense that their commitment to the citizens can be felt, and would ultimately lead to a greater degree of direct democracy, which is the ultimate ideal goal of democratic systems." explained Abazović.
That's not the biggest problem
He pointed out that the electoral system with open lists also has shortcomings and that, as he said, at the moment closed lists are not the biggest problem of the electoral process.
"I think it is good to have open lists, but before that we need to have a refined voter list, a better and professional State Election Commission, a professional Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and many other institutions that monitor the election process. Otherwise, the lists have been opened for us in vain, if we are going to create a majority again by buying votes, pressuring voters, inventing supports, etc.," said Abazović.
According to him, after the conditions for a fair game are created, it is necessary, as he said, to seriously consider and promote the concept of open lists.
"The preferential vote definitely represents an increase in the democratic standard. "The negatives are that it is much more difficult for people who are anonymous to incorporate themselves into political life, and that system affirms that people who have greater material resources can reach voters more easily," said Abazović.
He added that the system of open lists, in a patriarchal society such as Montenegro, is problematic for women.
"I think that in patriarchal societies it is more difficult for them to achieve a good result. And it is much less likely that people who come from smaller areas will be elected, than those from larger areas. E.g. it is much easier for someone to get votes in Podgorica, where there are 120 voters, than in Šavnik, where there are a thousand. These are the shortcomings of that system," said Abazović.
Someone can sleep through the mandate
In the societies of the Western Balkans, where there is a system of open lists, it happens, as he stated, that MPs at one point change their "camp" and say that they have absolute legitimacy, because they were directly elected by the citizens.
"Then they will be ready to make political transfers, which in some situations can be treated as unprincipled, in other situations as principled." In the Western Balkans, where responsibility towards citizens is still not at an enviable level, that system can create a problem against which you have no defense, because it gained some legitimacy directly from the citizens," said Abazović.
According to him, Montenegro can choose a system that suits it and is fair in the sense, as he explained, that a part of the deputies from a certain list will be elected by preferential vote, and that "the rest, which the party wins, will be treated according to the list determined by the authorities of that party".
"I think it is the best possible model. Also, conducting elections with open lists costs a little more, because the process is a little more complicated, than when it comes to closed lists. But, in any case, I don't think it's money spent in vain, but I think it increases the entire credibility of the society," said Abazović.
He pointed out that he absolutely supports the introduction of open lists into the electoral system in Montenegro, noting that the state must first solve the problem of the legitimacy of the electoral process.
Abazović believes that the existing electoral system is discriminatory because, as he said, lists are most often created in "a narrow group of people, who then make certain deals with people who are candidates".
"This kind of system, which Montenegro currently has, and looking through the prism of, first of all, the authorities, creates robots out of deputies. Anyone can be a deputy in the ruling coalition. It serves as a voting machine. And that is precisely because the list is closed and because of the feeling that someone gave you the mandate, and not that you deserved it yourself," Abazović said.
People who would be elected by preferential votes, as he said, would know that they received the support of the citizens because they do the job in the best possible way or, as he added, in a way that people like.
"In that way, they would not have any special obligation to be soldiers of the party in matters concerning the interests of the community and their voters. They wouldn't have any special obligation towards the party leader, they wouldn't feel a dose of special gratitude to the party or someone, to repay them in such a way that they will respect all their decisions, even when they are against the interests of the citizens," explained Abazović.
He believes that closed lists threaten the realization of democracy in its full capacity.
"That is why most of the countries of the European Union (EU) have opted for open or semi-open lists. It is also important to mention the fact that members of the European Parliament are elected on open lists," said Abazović.
In closed lists, as he explained, MPs have no responsibility towards the citizens, but, as he pointed out, exclusively towards the party.
"And the more loyal they are to the party, or to the party leader, the greater their chance to be on the list again, regardless of the fact that it can often be against the interests of the citizens who voted for that list," Abazović said.
The system with open lists, as he said, creates the possibility "for someone to sleep through the entire mandate".
"With open lists, everything changes. These people have a much greater responsibility, a much greater desire to prove themselves, they want to be liked much more, to be in communication with their voters, because they understand that at some point they will have to go to them again and ask for support for the place they were before received", explained Abazović.
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