Nothing new in Šavnik yesterday either - voting was interrupted and new elections are held next Sunday. Seventh in line.
And as a man from Šavnica said, there will be - at least nine.
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”And Dante in his 'Divine Comedy' had nine circles of hell. We haven't moved far from that either," he said, not wanting his name to be mentioned.
As soon as the elections in the Šavnik municipality building started, they were immediately interrupted. Member of the coalition "For the future of Šavnik" Darka Cosovic she canceled part of the ballots because, as the coalition claims, voters from another municipality came to vote.
According to the words Tomislav Jelic from the aforementioned coalition, "a person who is not from Šavnik, nor has anything to do with Šavnik" came to vote at the polling station in the Municipality building. He said that "it is a shame that because of the registration of new voters, the members of the board were put in a situation where they resent each other".
Shortly after Šavnik, the village of Kruševice was also affected. According to the President of the Electoral Committee Budimir Vukićević, board member Miloš Jauković, from the Coalition "For the Future of Šavnik", tried to destroy the ballots, but, as he stated, he did not succeed.
The elections continued for a short time, only for the Municipal Election Commission to make a decision by a majority of votes to stop voting at that polling station as well, due to irregularities.
One resident, 58 voters
"As for permanent residents in the village of Miloševići, there is no one but me, and I see that there are 58 voters on the list, so I would like to meet some of the neighbors, to see who they are, where they live. I've been here for six years and I don't vote. I leave it to those who come from outside to vote and decide how I will live here", he said Milutin Memedovic from Milošević, a village whose inhabitants vote in Kruševice.
Radenko Jakic, who worked as a waiter in a hotel in Šavnica, used to know, as he said, who comes from where, what their name is, and "now you don't know their names or surnames".
"I have lived in Šavnik for 70 years, I know every child that was born, their names and surnames, but what is happening is really wrong. Here, half of Šavnik has moved away, the village is deserted. It doesn't matter, whoever wants to rule, both parties and presidents have ruled before. If they wanted to sink this, so that we don't leave the village, let whoever wants to vote".
Although voting in the town is being repeated for the sixth time, Radenko says that he and his wife will come to vote for the seventh time - out of spite, in order, as he said, to contribute to the fact that those who live in the municipality elect the government in Šavnik.
It is precisely this stubbornness, according to the Prime Minister in his technical mandate Dritan Abazovic, the main culprit for the fact that there is no end in sight to the Šavnica elections. He says that the "battle" for Šavnik is not being fought because of the large water potential and future hydropower plants, as is widely said.
"I would say that it is a desire to prove and some Montenegrin stubbornness that has worked between subjects who think they can reach an absolute majority, or a coalition majority, rather than a big fight. Here in Montenegro, there are these conspiracy theories that Šavnik is going to be submerged, that hydroelectric power plants are going to be built, that some other things are going to be built. It's all in the realm of conspiracy theory. Even if a significant project is launched, it can hardly be realized in one mandate. I invite them all to go to the elections in a good spirit, without tensions and to somehow bring it to an end. I call for some democratic breadth", said Abazović for "Vijesti".
Democratic latitude and invoking Tito
And that "democratic latitude" will have to wait, at least until December 4. Or, as the holder of the list of the coalition "For the future of Šavnik" said Gavrilo Cerović, "as long as electoral engineering lasts".
"This will last if the landing on Šavnik from Nikšić is repeated every Sunday. Last Sunday, just before the end of the voting process, there were so many people from Nikšić that all of these 130 newly registered people came. They adapt to the situation, and the bottom line is that their number does not decrease. In the morning, they will send trial voters to see how we will react," Cerović told "Vijesti".
According to him, so many new voters have been registered in the voter list that they can "cancel" their advantage after voting at 21 polling stations.
On the other hand, the holder of the DPS-SD list and the current president of the Municipality of Šavnik Jugoslav Jakić, he pointed out that if, as he claims, 200 newly registered voters have exercised their right to vote, he sees no reason why that right should be denied to the others.
"If 200 have already exercised their right to vote, everything is acceptable for us, because in any case we are the election winners... I know that DPS will continue to lead this city. It's just a matter of which week it will be confirmed".
Jakić says that he is convinced that the prosecutor's office and competent institutions will do their job and sanction the culprits of all incidents, but also check everything that they consider to have been done outside the law.
"And that all these people who have been holding us hostage here in Šavnik for more than a month will be brought to justice... and that this will be a clear message to all those other people in Montenegro who would try to do something like that.. .”.
And Abazović says that he hopes that the prosecution will have a little more sensitivity and "help" to finally end the local elections in Savnik, which started on October 23.
"We cannot take actions that are illegal. Destruction of election materials at the polling station means repeating the vote. Those are the rules. The only thing we can do is appeal to the state prosecutor's office that, if there are evident obstructions, treat it with a little more sensitivity, because we have to finish it. Whoever wins, good luck...".
The only thing the state can do, according to him, is to ensure the electoral process and public order and peace.
"We, the police, cannot determine who will go to vote and how someone will behave inside the polling station. If someone is really registered there, we have no option but to change the law and deny him the right to vote. The presence of security-interested persons was noticed in the previous period and it was all recorded, so even those who somehow dare not think that some threats or something will go unpunished or go unnoticed. That won't happen either. All persons who are of security interest, who come from other municipalities, have been registered".
Rajko Bajović says he knows who could end this election immediately:
"I don't mind Tita rise, so that all this would be in order. This is a shame and a shame. We became world record holders. And I also have one proposal - to transfer these journalists who come every week to Šavnik, but they don't have to vote".
With Žika, there is no password or typing
During the local elections in Šavnik, catering facilities were closed, so journalists had to "jump" to Žabljak to drink coffee. As of two weeks ago - they don't have to.
You can drink coffee at Žika's, just knock, the boys in blue uniforms told us.
They did not say if a "password" was required. There was no need to knock at Žika's, because its doors are open to all guests on Sundays.
"I don't know why we shouldn't work. We try to make everyone happy, and it is known that the best coffee you will drink here is the one made by Žika. It is true that the biggest market is on Sundays, but there are also responsibilities and I would be responsible if something happens. But there must be a place where people can drink coffee, and the best and safest place for me is the polling station. No repeats. You take one and the story is over. Clean bill, long love", said Živko Jovović.
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