The SEC did not determine Spajić's candidacy

The session of the State Election Commission is closed.

The SEC did not determine Spajić's candidacy for president.

Three members voted for, four against, while four abstained.

Nataša Pešić, Vera Mijatović, Nikola Dedejić (DPS) and Aleksandar Jovićević (SD) were against.

In favor were the president of the SEC, Nikola Mugoša, Vladimir Čađenović (Democrats) and Damir Suljević (CGO).

Miloš Giljen, Nataša Prelević (DF), Milisav Ćorić (SNP) and Haris Mekić (BS) abstained.

"I warned the SEC that it entered the zone of illegal behavior when it was decided to send a letter to Serbia and I left that session. It is fair and chivalrous to allow someone to compete," said Čađenović.

Suljević said that it should be borne in mind that the deregistration of residence was issued on a non-working day in Serbia. "Well, I'm interested in which state body was working that day," he said.

The session continued.

Mugoša stated that they received an email from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia that on Tuesday, February 14, Spajić submitted a request to that department to deregister his Serbian citizenship.

Suljević asked for a five-minute break in order to review the new documentation and signatures.

Vera Mijatović asked for a vote on the candidacy, and not on the conclusion that deficiencies should be eliminated within 48 hours.

A break of five minutes was given.

Jovićević said that there was a lot of manipulation to see if they misused data that is available to everyone who has access to the Internet.

Mugosa said that they just received the documentation from the Belgrade police department via email.

It states that Spajić deregistered his residence in Serbia on Wednesday, February 15.

Damir Suljević (CGO) recalled that he was reserved when it was discussed about sending the request to the REC of Serbia. He believes that it was a precedent that exceeded the competences of the SEC.

"In relation to two citizens, who had not submitted their candidacy, we acted selectively and put them in a disadvantageous position compared to the other candidates. I believe that there is no provision in the law that a person with dual residence and dual citizenship cannot be a candidate." , he stated.

However, as he says, this is not an ethically clean situation and it is questionable how clean it is legally, but everyone should be given a chance and let the voters judge it.

He announced that he would vote for Spajić's candidacy.

Aleksandar Jovicević (SD) said that he thinks that they acted correctly when they sent the request to the REC of Serbia and that they did not exceed their powers, because they are there "to take care of the legality of the election process".

Mugoša repeated that at the moment they have no information on when Spajić acquired residence in Serbia and how long it lasted.

"I believe that the MUP should bring the proceedings to an end, and I don't see how the submitted certificates could be challenged before the SEC," he pointed out.

They could, he added, be contested in administrative proceedings.

The President of the SEC, Nikola Mugoša, indicated that the commission determines the candidate's proposal based on the submitted documentation.

He reminded that they had asked Serbia for residence information for Spajić and Mandić. "At that session, we were not unanimous about making such a request."

He stated that in the information from Serbia for Spajić, it was stated that he had a residence, but they did not receive information about the duration of the residence.

He recalled that he was against sending such a request.

"Given that there is no information about the duration of residence, we would act hastily if we rejected the candidacy," Mugoša said.

Damir Suljević, member of the SEC from the Center for Civic Education, asked to see the signatures of support.

Vladimir Čađenović (Democrats) said that he will vote tonight to confirm Spajić's candidacy and that he insists on voting on it tonight.

SEC member Milisav Ćorić (SNP) said that they did not have an adequate approach to everyone when potential candidates were checked.

"At the commission, I proposed that we carry out a check for everyone, if it is done for one, then it is done for all... Certain candidates are mentioned in the media as having business relations in the UAE and the like. It is problematic that the check was requested only for a certain destination, which is a selective approach," he believes.

Ćorić reminded that in the 2016 elections, at least three lists submitted five to six thousand signatures, some of which had more than three thousand foreign citizens, so they brought a warning about eliminating deficiencies.

"I remain dissatisfied that we will not check all candidates by midnight on February 26," he concluded.

Miloš Giljen, who is replacing Koča Đurišić (DF), said that he was convinced that he would get the same answer from the Republic of Serbia Election Commission for both Mandić and Spajić.

"One gets the impression that Mr. Spajić misled the public for a long period of time," he said.

"The DF is of the opinion that we do not want to arbitrate an incomplete and unclear legal situation, so we will refrain," Giljen pointed out.

SEC member Vera Mijatović (DPS) pointed to stricter conditions for candidacy, due to the allegations that the parties' interests are being manipulated.

"When considering this candidacy, we must consistently comply with the regulations and expertly evaluate the submitted documentation," said Mijatović.

He believes that it would not be good to ignore the fact that the candidate has two residences.

"The candidate whose candidacy we are considering has not lived in Montenegro for 15 years, and one can get the impression that this is a deliberate circumvention of the regulations," she added.

The President of the SEC, Nikola Mugoša, said that a confirmation of Spajić's right to vote, residence, and citizenship was submitted from the documentation.

The voters' signatures were checked and it was determined that there was the required number. About 8.300 signatures out of 8.845 checked are valid.

The first item on the agenda is consideration of Spajić's candidacy.

The State Election Commission (SEC) is holding a session where it will decide on the presidential candidacy proposal of the leader of the Europe Now Movement (PES) Milojko Spajić.

PES youth submitted signatures of citizens' support for Spajić's candidacy on Thursday evening. The candidacy proposal was submitted with around 12.000 signatures of support from citizens.

The SEC can confirm Spajić's candidacy, reject it, or send it back for revision.

The Commission decides by majority vote of the total number of members.

Presidential elections are scheduled for March 19.

The SEC has so far only confirmed the candidacy of one of the leaders of the Democratic Front (DF), Andrija Mandić, and Social Democratic Party (SDP) MP Draginja Vuksanović Stanković and Christian Democratic Movement leader Dejan Vukšić have also announced their participation in the elections.

The central election headquarters of the Democratic Montenegro proposed to the presidency of that party to establish a proposal for a decision for the session of the Main Board, in which the leader of the Democrats, Aleksa Bečić, is running for president.

The main board of the United Montenegro decided that the leader of that party, Goran Danilović, would be the presidential candidate, while the group of citizens "Justice for All" started collecting signatures of support for the candidacy of Vladimir Leposavić.

Applications can be submitted until February 26.