The people of Šavnica, like the rest of Montenegro, will elect the president of the state on March 19, but there is little chance that they will get the head of the municipality by then, because so far there are no indications that the elections at the two polling stations in that town will be repeated.
The elections in Šavnik began on October 23, when they were held in 13 other towns, but they have not yet ended because the members of the election committees from the opposition coalition "For the Future of Šavnik", led by the Democratic Front (DF), did not allow part of the newly registered voters to vote because were, they claim, rewritten to support the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
At two polling stations, in the Municipality building and in the village of Kruševica, where 541 voters have the right to vote, voting was held on nine occasions, the last time on December 18, when the elections were interrupted again, after which the Municipal Election Commission (MEC) there could not come to an agreement about repeating them. At the moment, not even a curtain has been made to the polling station in Kruševice. It will be passable when the ballot boxes arrive...
For weeks, the State Election Commission (SEC) has been ordering the MEC to make a decision on repeating the election, the last time it did so was on Friday, but there is no majority in the local body for it, as members from the opposition abstained.
According to the election results so far, the opposition coalitions have 121 votes more than the ruling alliance of DPS and Social Democrats (SD).
The law does not prescribe penalties
Member of the SEC and associate on programs at the Center for Civic Education (CGE) Damir Suljević, assesses for "Vijesti" that the Šavnik MEC with such behavior directly violates the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, which, according to him, is explicit in relation to the repetition of elections and prescribes a clear procedure.
In that act, it is written that the elections are repeated if the competent commission cancels them at a polling station (they are repeated only at that polling station), that they are announced and that they are conducted no later than seven days after their cancellation.
Suljević says that, unfortunately, the deficiency of that law is that no punitive provisions were prescribed that could be applied to this case, because, as he states, the legislator clearly could not even foresee the specificity of this situation.
However, he states that it should be determined whether this behavior of some MEC members is subject to some kind of criminal responsibility, and adds that this should be done by the competent prosecutor's office.
"We have no information that anyone has so far filed a criminal complaint with the prosecution because of the actions of some members of the MEC and their refusal to adopt the decision they are obliged to adopt, which should not be an obstacle for the prosecution to take an independent interest in the case... The only solution is effective prosecutorial and judicial prosecution of irresponsible individuals, or for political actors to come to their senses and allow this process to end", emphasizes Suljević, warning that this situation can last indefinitely.
So far, dozens of people have been prosecuted before the judicial authorities for the events related to the elections in Šavnik, which included numerous incidents, including physical conflicts.
The interlocutor says that the only worse scenario than the one when the elections were interrupted in various ways at the polling stations, is that there is no election at all, due to an obvious violation of the law.
"The mandate of the current municipal government in Šavnik has expired, which means that this government has a deficit of legitimacy to make decisions that are important for the municipality, except for those decisions that refer to the minimum necessary to maintain the functioning of the municipality," he adds.
When asked if the SEC can do something in this case, Suljević replied that this institution has no legal basis to take over the competences of the MEC at this moment, which could, for example, be the situation during the parliamentary elections. He explains that the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament prescribes that the SEC will take over the jurisdiction of the municipal commission in the event that it does not fulfill its obligations in relation to the election of members of parliament.
"The only thing that the SEC can do now is to act on complaints in a timely manner in relation to the work of the Šavnik MEC and order them to act according to the law and make a decision on repeating the election. However, this is rendered meaningless by the fact that appeals are repeated on a weekly basis, and that MEC Šavnik, contrary to the decision of the SEC, continues to violate the law", he points out.
Stalemate
President of MEC Šavnik Dusan Radanović, told "Vijesti" that the commission has an obligation to respect the orders of the SEC, but that it is not in a position to make a decision on repeating the election.
"The MEC has eight members. As four are in favor of (repeat elections) and four abstained, we do not have the necessary majority to make a decision, because for that a majority of the total number of members is necessary," he said, stating that the commission last voted on the elections on Thursday, and that and then the power ratio was four to four.
With the suspension of local elections and the approach of the presidential elections, there were also changes in the voter list, so in three months, Šavnik was left without 133 voters.
According to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) from January 17, there are 1.835 voters in that Poddurmitor municipality, while there were 1.968 before the October elections.
As "Vijesti" wrote, a large number of newly registered voters was recorded in Šavnik in October, which was 2020 more than the parliamentary elections held in 350.
DPS is ready, the opposition asks what happened to 133 voters
President of the Municipality of Šavnik and holder of the list of DPS and SD Jugoslav Jakić, states that the focus in that town is now on other things, not on local elections.
"We do our job, we take care of the citizens. We had a lot of snow, we are working on cleaning, plus regular activities and jobs... When the elections are held - we are ready, but other jobs cannot wait and suffer... The obstruction in Šavnik moved from the polling boards to the MEC. As for us, we are ready this, and the next, and any Sunday to go out and end the election process with our victory," he told "Vijesta".
On the other hand, the holder of the list "For the future of Šavnik" Gavrilo Cerović asks what happened to the 133 voters who are no longer on the voter list in Šavnik, and announces that there will be no interruption of the presidential elections.
"What happened to those people? Why is that, one wonders? Does the local government in Šavnik wonder where those 130 are? Did they worry that they signed up a few months ago and moved away? That's why the presidential elections will be regular, because they go according to the new voter list. These settlers from Nikšić cannot exercise their right to vote in both Šavnik and Nikšić. There is no need to interrupt the presidential elections because those voters, who voted in Nikšić or Savnik, can only exercise their right to vote once...", he told "Vijesta".
Cerović says that the state should "cleanse" the voter list.
"If we go to Kruševice today, we won't find one or two lights in the whole village, and almost 60 of them (voters) are registered. Not to mention the second polling station. This list needs to be 'cleaned up', and that is up to the state. And the state can't even finish the elections in Podgorica - there were elections, but no new government to take over the city. You see how disorderly the country is, and how much the government has distorted for 30 years so that nothing works. There is also Pljevlja. If the state wants - it can, they have everything on the table. They are all the same people, 'walkers', who do not live in Šavnik", he notes.
The locals rested
The people of Šavnica estimate that there will be even fewer voters by the time of the presidential elections. That is why, they say, they are not worried that the elections will be completed on March 19. They are no longer very interested in local ones.
"I am not interested in local elections. It's the same whoever comes. I don't think about them at all. You and you are the same. Sometimes I just went out to vote, because then I waited to see if they would interrupt them. We have rested since these local elections, but we hope for the presidential one. The presidential ones bring good to everyone - that the situation calms down, that people reconcile, that new ones come, that we no longer divide," an unemployed agronomy engineer told "Vijesti" Radoš Šćepanović.
His fellow citizen Sladjana Kandić she is also tired of the local elections, and she says that she is also tired of the jokes about Šavnik and the elections that last longer than "Đekna".
"We took a break from the elections and they don't have to write them at all when that's the situation. Although, I believe, they will continue to repeat themselves, and there will be no improvement for the state and society until someone new and better comes along. We were ashamed of what was happening to us in such a small municipality. It's awful to be known for that. We couldn't help but laugh. Making fun of the place where you are from, where you were born and live - it is not funny at all", she emphasizes.
Šavničanka Slobodanka Nenezić what hurts the most, as he states, is that the Municipality, when it comes to social cases, is "someone's mother and someone else's stepmother". That's the only reason, she says, that she will come out to vote again when the local elections resume, although, she admits, she is not very interested in them.
"I am not interested in elections. It's getting harder and harder. I would like something to change, to be better. I'm tired of the same politics. Someone doesn't have any help, they don't have anything to eat, and someone is given two apartments each...", she says visibly disappointed.
Suljević: Elections cannot be canceled or "postponed for spring"
Suljević says that so far a total of 14 decisions have been adopted at seven sessions of the SEC, ordering the Šavnik MEC to make decisions on repeating the election, and that the MEC has ignored such decisions 12 times.
"There is no indication that this will change even in relation to the last two decisions of the SEC", he adds.
Asked if the elections can be annulled in the current circumstances, Suljević replied that the law does not recognize the possibility of doing so and conducting new elections, nor of "postponing the elections until spring", as some government officials could say.
"So, the only legal way is to carry out these elections to the end, and to meet the first next elections in that municipality, to enter into a stricter control of residence registrations, which were disputed before these elections. Of course, on a systemic level, work must be done on a fundamental amendment of the electoral legislation, which would, among other things, prevent such abuses by political subjects, regardless of which country they are from," he said.
The court initiated 16 proceedings against 23 persons
CGE announced on Friday that the Basic Court in Zabljak initiated 16 proceedings against 23 persons based on prosecution reports related to election events in Šavnik.
So far, as they announced, searches have been scheduled in almost all cases.
"CGO previously received information from the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) of Pljevlja, which received 29 criminal reports, of which 29 cases were formed against 38 persons in connection with the events in Šavnik, and 17 indictments were submitted to the court against 26 persons", they pointed out. from CGO.
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