Only a third of councilors from the government and the opposition regularly attend the sessions of the Kolašin local parliament. Certain representatives of the Kolasin legislative authority only attended the sessions twice, and even 18 of them do not attend the sessions of the working bodies.
The most active member of the Kolasin Municipal Assembly (SO) in the new convocation is Vladimir Martinović from the Democrats. According to the statistics, which are kept for the first time in the parliamentary service, during the 11 sessions of the local parliament, since the new government was constituted last year, he was at the speaker's desk as many as 89 times.
After him, the most active councilor of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) is Željka Vuksanović. According to the records of SO secretary Ognjen Šćepanović, she discussed 70 times, and her party colleague Bojan Zeković 66 times. In terms of activity, the president of the SO Milan Đukić from the Citizens' Group (GG), who was inspired 52 times to inform the councilors of his position on the items on the agenda, as well as the member of the Democratic Front (DF) Saša Dožić, who was behind the lectern once less. Gospava Vujisić from GG also contributed very actively to the parliamentary debates, so she debated 34 times.
According to the statistics of the parliamentary service, representatives of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which is the strongest political party in that city and together with the GG and the Social Democrats (SD), are the least active representatives at the sessions of the local parliament. In that committee club, Darko Popović and Duško Šćepanović were most often behind the lectern, 24 and 22 times respectively. According to the same statistics, seven out of a total of 31 councilors, in a year and a half, have never spoken from behind the parliamentary rostrum.
According to the number of submitted amendments, councilor Vujisić leads the way, having done so six times. One amendment was submitted by Šćepanović from DPS and Vuksanović from SDP. During the 11 sessions of the Council of Ministers, according to the number of committee questions, the Democrats and SDP clubs are in the lead. Councilors did not propose decisions or initiatives.
The characteristic of the sessions of the local parliament in this convocation are rather long sessions, lasting more than nine hours each. Bitter debates and verbal conflicts, however, SO President Đukić told "Vijesti", have not caused serious violations of the Rules of Procedure so far. Parliamentary discussions, intensive debates, long sessions and political antagonisms, he explains, can always result in occasional violations of the Rules of Procedure, which, for now, can be classified as "minor" and "negligible".
Đukić is satisfied with the way councilors address each other, and different examples are rare, he claims. Legislators, he explains, have a good practice of apologizing to each other for excessive or offensive words and tones. The President of the SO believes that the activity behind the lectern is not often a true indicator of the "participation of councilors in the life of the community". According to him, "the function of councilors in the Kolašin parliament is prominently performed by those councilors of the position and the opposition, whose focus at the sessions is on the problems of the citizens, and not on personal political promotion".
The "free chairs" in the hall are still empty
According to Đukić, the citizens still do not show the expected interest in the sessions of the Council of Ministers. However, he claims that "the educational and informative activities of the Ministry of Public Administration and certain NGOs to bring SO citizens closer to their rights and how to exercise those rights are slowly yielding results." According to him, the work should be continued in the future, with citizens through educational workshops. "As for NGOs, they can use the institute of "free chairs" and participate in the work of the local parliament. So far, no NGO based in Kolašin has taken advantage of this opportunity. The reason for this may be the topics that have been in the sessions so far, because I know that certain NGOs from Kolašin are interested in the work of the SO. Even the NGO "Natura" implemented the project "Shared money - shared responsibility", he says.
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