With the amendments to the Law on Voters' List adopted by the ruling coalition before the New Year holidays, the opposition and the non-governmental sector lose the right to permanent inspection of the voter's list, which is why party representatives fear that there will be even greater abuses during the upcoming elections.
This year, local elections are expected in several municipalities, as well as regular parliamentary elections.
The provision of the law states that the Ministry of Interior is obliged to submit a "tabular representation of data on voters..." to the parliamentary party, the submitter of the confirmed electoral list and the NGO authorized to monitor the elections. it has been deleted. That she is problematic was previously pointed out by the DPS, which in the 2016 election also filed a criminal complaint against the then opposition minister of the interior, Goran Danilović.
However, DPS claimed yesterday that the controversial provision was changed in 2017 and that the e-party has not complained so far.
The Special State Prosecutor's Office rejected the DPS application last year. They claimed that Danilović "committed criminal acts of abuse of official position and unauthorized collection and use of personal data for at least 873.465 persons".
The president of the club of representatives of the Democratic Front (DF), Milutin Đukanović, told "Vijesti" yesterday that, in addition to the existing irregularities regarding the voter list, this change is an added problem. "Since we know that state bodies are party-based, DPS will not have any problems with having a voter list," Đukanović assessed. Assessing that "the voter's list is a record of desirable DPS voters", Đukanović said that it is unrealistic that the number of inhabitants has decreased and the number of voters has increased. "The number of participants has dropped by 20 percent in the last 17 years, while the number of residents has remained the same. Well, it didn't stay the same, the number of inhabitants also fell. Everything that is over 400.000 in the voter list is surplus, illegal and unlawful," said Đukanović.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Mevludin Nuhodžić, explained earlier in the parliament that the difference in the figure is a consequence of the fact that the database includes Montenegrin citizens who live abroad, among whom there are many children.
The official of Democratic Montenegro, Vladimir Jokić, said that even this kind of voter list is used by the DPS through the MUP for further and deeper abuses. "The DPS, through its people in state bodies, uses the voter list and abuses it, by entries, transcriptions and in all other ways. On the other hand, the opposition political parties are only allowed to see the voter list, with limited possibilities for control through manipulations," Jokić pointed out for "Vijesti".
SDP General Secretary Ivan Vujović reminded that the Law on the Voter List is one of the regulations that was quickly adopted without an agreement with the opposition and that it is not surprising that it contains elements that limit its activities, and on the other hand facilitate the position of the government." The biggest fear is that it will be the institutions, whose partiality and captivity the EU speaks about in its reports, that will abuse their actions for the benefit of the authorities. The accounts of such abuses in Montenegro are more than numerous, factually proven many times, and this is the main reason why we have such a low level of trust in the electoral process," said Vujović.
Živković: The changes are formal, that part has been valid since 2017 and there were no problems
DPS MP Danijel Živković said that the law on the basis of which parties can only inspect the voter list has been in force since 2017, based on the recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR regarding the protection of citizens' personal data. "This legal amendment protected the personal data of citizens, which until then were available to political parties and the civil sector in the voter list, but in no way prevents those parties and NGOs who want to inspect the documentation on the basis of which the change was made in the voter list either during the campaign or during the campaign, but only in the premises of the Ministry of Internal Affairs based on the request," he states.
The MP says that the practice of applying the law since 2017 has shown that there are no problems in applying it and that this decision has not hindered the work of the parties. "The latest changes to the law in this part are purely formal in nature, because changes in the voter list are not made only on the basis of a decision, and that's why the change was made only in the part of the name," explains the deputy.
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