Only after the citizenship election, Mandić would ask for a postponement of the declaration in the MUP

Candidate for the President of Montenegro and one of the leaders of the Democratic Front (DF) Andrija Mandic, asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) to postpone the declaration on acquiring Serbian citizenship - "Vijesti" has learned unofficially.

According to the newspaper, Mandić was supposed to testify at the MUP last week. The "Vijesti" source said that the MUP will send him an invitation for a new appointment.

DF did not answer "Vijesti" whether one of their leaders asked for a postponement, if so - why, and when they will make a statement.

The presidential elections are scheduled for Sunday, March 19, until which time the proceedings in this case cannot be concluded.

Mandic announced at the beginning of March that, in addition to Montenegrin, he also has Serbian citizenship, and that he obtained it legally, but he did not want to say when.

According to the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship, a person, in addition to the Montenegrin citizenship, can have the citizenship of another country if he acquired it before the declaration of independence of Montenegro on June 3, 2006, or if there is a bilateral agreement with the other country. Montenegro does not have such an agreement with Serbia.

This follows from the answer given to "Vijesta" by the Acting Director General of the Directorate for Administrative Affairs, Citizenship and Foreigners in the MUP, Radovan Popovic.

He explained in which cases it is possible to have legal dual citizenship.

"We note that the provision of Article 12, paragraph 1 of the Constitutional Law on the Implementation of the Constitution stipulates that every citizen of Montenegro who, in addition to Montenegrin citizenship, also had the citizenship of another country on June 3, 2006, has the right to retain the Montenegrin citizenship and to , according to paragraph 2 of the same article, a Montenegrin citizen who acquired another citizenship after June 3, 2006 can also retain the Montenegrin citizenship until the signing of a bilateral agreement with the country whose citizenship he acquired, but no longer than one year after the adoption of the Constitution," concludes Popović.

This means that in September 2007, when Mandic announced that he would apply for Serbian citizenship, he was possibly telling the truth because he could legally acquire it and keep it from then until October 2008. However, he certainly could not have it legally in 2011, when he said that he will never renounce it, because the Constitution was adopted four years earlier, in October.

”Vijesti” from DF did not receive an answer to the question of whether their presidential candidate acquired citizenship of Serbia before or after June 2006. Neither did the Ministry of Interior of Serbia answer the list when Mandic received citizenship of that country.

The issue of dual citizenship became topical at the beginning of February, when the State Election Commission (SEC) asked colleagues from Serbia whether, at that moment, potential presidential candidates, Mandic and the leader of the Europe Now Movement (PES) Milojko Spajic have residence and voting rights in Serbia.

Within two weeks, the answer of the MUP of Serbia arrived that Mandić did not have a residence, but that Spajić was in Belgrade. That is why, in mid-February, since it was announced that the president of PES also has Serbian citizenship, the SEC rejected his candidacy proposal, even though he met all the formal requirements for it.

According to the Constitution and the Law on the Election of the President, the candidate must have resided in Montenegro for at least ten years in the last 15 years.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs initiated administrative proceedings to revoke Spajić's Montenegrin citizenship, which, as explained by the department, lasts a year by law. Spajić made a statement to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about fifteen days ago.

Mandić recently stated in the program "Načisto" on TV "Vijesti" that he has Serbian citizenship, which is "in full compliance with the regulations of the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro, the Constitution of Montenegro and the applicable laws, the Constitution of Serbia and the applicable laws."

When asked if the citizenship was acquired before 2006, he answered: "Let me announce something when I go (to the MUP)."

He added that he never had a residence, identity card and passport of Serbia, nor was he entered in their voter list.

In 2011, Mandic announced that he would never renounce his Serbian citizenship, and that he called on all citizens of Montenegro who have a Serbian passport to do the same.

"I encourage every citizen of Montenegro to take the citizenship of Serbia and not to be afraid, and there is no need to inform the authorities in Montenegro about those relations", he said then, adding that the Government of Serbia, in the Law on Citizenship from 2007, provided that with the relations of that country and its citizens should not be known to a third party.

In 2007, when the state of Serbia announced that it would not publicly disclose information on who received Serbian citizenship, Mandic said that he would do so when he received it.

Radovan Popović states that, according to the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship, an adult Montenegrin citizen, who also has the citizenship of another country, loses his Montenegrin citizenship by force of law if he has voluntarily acquired another, and adds that the competent authority is obliged to initiate proceedings ex officio in that case.

In five years, 1.290 requests to print from Montenegrin citizenship

Asked how many people in the last five years requested release from Montenegrin citizenship and what they cited as the reason for such requests, Popović replied that from January 1, 2018 to March 7 of this year, 1.290 such requests were submitted.

"The competence of the MUP is to act on requests for release from Montenegrin citizenship in accordance with the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship, to assess the fulfillment of the requirements of the applicant for release, without examining the reasons for which he submitted the request," he says.