Šćepanović: They entered the zone of criminal responsibility

President of the Kolašin Board of DPS Marta Šćepanović (DPS) she told Vijesti that the Municipal Election Commission (MEC) "determined the final results of the election by legal violence".

She states that by filing constitutional appeals, "the procedure for the protection of voting rights was moved to the Constitutional Court", and that the MEC should have acted in accordance with the article of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, which stipulates that the Commission "determines the final results of elections for councilors within of 12 hours from the finality or enforceability of the decisions made on appeal".

Kolašin Municipal Council determined today the final results of the local elections of October 23. Six representatives of Democrats, the Democratic Front, the Europe Now Movement and URA voted for it, while two members from DPS abstained, and the third representative was against. DPS previously filed a constitutional appeal.

"Members of the election commission are familiar with the position of the SEC regarding the announcement of the final election results, which is in line with the Constitution and the law. Obviously, they consciously acted against the article of the Constitution and the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament. Also, to the position taken by the SEC, all with the intention of declaring the preliminary results of the local elections in Kolašin as the final results. In the end, they risked entering the zone of criminal responsibility by doing so," says Šćepanović.

The list led by DPS in Kolašin got nine councilors in the local parliament. The list of Democrats and United Montenegro will have the same number of councilors. The Democratic Front will have four councilors, the Evropa Sad Movement and SNP will have three each, the Momčilo Vukčević Group of Voters will have two and one from the URA list.

The fact that the Constitutional Court does not have a sufficient number of judges to decide on election appeals cannot stop the election process, the MEC members who voted for determining the final results remind in a joint statement.

"The mandate of the current convocation of the SO expired on July 7, 2022, and currently this convocation is illegitimate, which was confirmed by the decision of the Constitutional Court. The question arises whether such a parliamentary majority can vote on some of the most important decisions for the municipality, first of all I mean the budget, the spatial planning program that must follow the execution of the capital budget", they reason.

They remind that "all the members of the MEC, except for the member of the expanded composition in front of the DPS, "signed the minutes on determining the final results of the elections, without objections".

"MEC members who abstained had no objections to the established election results, but voted in this way due to the fact that the Constitutional Court did not decide on the election appeals," said the MEC members, who raised their hand to determine the final results.

Bosko Laketić, representative of the list of URA and free citizens, told "Vijesti" that "there are numerous problems in Kolašin and there is no reason to wait even a day for their solution".

"It is symptomatic that DPS did not file any complaints in the few municipalities where it won power, but only in those where it experienced a complete debacle. But if the DPS believes that their appeals are well-founded, I invite them to vote for the election of judges of the Constitutional Court, and therefore for the Constitutional Court to cancel the decision we made today," said Laketić.