Today, the Constitutional Court (US) of Montenegro will consider the proposal for the evaluation of the constitutionality of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Local Self-Government, which postponed the local elections in several municipalities to October 23, News from several sources confirmed.
In the event that the US determines that the amendments to the law are contrary to the Constitution, the question arises as to what will happen to the scheduled elections and electoral activities that are in progress.
The proposal for the constitutional review was submitted by 15 deputies of the Democratic Front, who stated that if such a law remained in force, a dangerous and unconstitutional precedent would be created, according to which it is possible to arbitrarily change the electoral system with the intervention of the legislator, while the previously scheduled electoral actions last.
The initiative was also submitted by the NGO CDT, which also drew attention to the fact that changing the law would lead to a dangerous precedent, i.e. illegal postponement of elections without a valid reason. The US consolidated both cases.
In order for the decision to be made today, it is necessary that all four of the seven judges vote for it.
President of the state Milo Djukanovic initially refused to sign the law adopted by the parliamentary majority, which included members of his DPS, due to its unconstitutionality. After re-voting, he had to comply with that obligation according to the Constitution.
However, there remains a legal gap as to what happens in the event that the Constitutional Court today says that the parliamentary act is unconstitutional. The elections have already been announced by the president's decision, so the dilemma remains whether he will be obliged to change it.
The Law on the Constitutional Court leaves the possibility for judges to suspend all electoral actions, because it states: "Execution of final individual acts adopted on the basis of the law, i.e. other regulations and general acts, i.e. some of their provisions, which were determined by the decision of the Constitutional Court to be not in compliance with the Constitution and confirmed and published international agreements, i.e. with the Constitution and the law, cannot be allowed to be implemented, and if the execution has been started, it will be suspended".
Also, in the highest legal act of Montenegro, the Constitution, it is written: "The law or other regulation, that is, some of their provisions, which were determined by the decision of the Constitutional Court to be inconsistent with the Constitution or the law, cannot be applied to relations that arose before the publication of the decision of the Constitutional Court if they have not been legally resolved by that day".
This would mean, as lawyers familiar with constitutional court procedures explained to Vijesti, that the US should specify in its decision today the suspension of all election activities and the holding of elections.
Bonus video:
