Suomalainen and Bogojević: Parliamentary elections were competitive and took place in a democratic and fair atmosphere

Parliamentary elections in Montenegro were competitive and took place in a democratic and fair atmosphere, it was assessed at the meeting of the head of the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Nina Suomalainen and the acting general director for multilateral affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MVP) Radovan Bogojevića.

This was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The meeting took place on the occasion of the completion of the work of the ODIHR Observation Mission on the early parliamentary elections and the publication of the preliminary report," the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states.

As they said, the ODIHR Observation Mission assessed that the election process was well managed, but also pointed out that, although the legal framework provides a good basis for holding democratic elections, there is, according to them, a clear need for reform and improvement of the electoral legislation as deficiencies would be eliminated.

"In this context, the expectation was expressed that the new convocation of the Assembly will prioritize the implementation of the necessary reforms. At the same time, satisfaction was expressed regarding the excellent cooperation that the Observation Mission achieved with the institutions in Montenegro, primarily with the State Election Commission, as well as the MFA ", the announcement states.

The MFA, they added, expressed gratitude to the head and members of the ODIHR Observation Mission for their professional and dedicated work, as well as for the evaluations in the interim report, which provides an objective account of the election process.

"As has been said, it is particularly significant that experts from countries with a long democratic tradition were predominantly selected for the experts of the Observation Mission, which additionally contributes to the quality and credibility of those evaluations. In this way, as it was assessed, the attitude towards the election process in the country was also demonstrated a member of NATO that is on the way to joining the EU," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

According to them, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that Montenegro is continuously committed to cooperation with the ODIHR in order to further improve the electoral system by reaching European standards through the reform of the electoral legislation.

"It was stated that after several election cycles, preconditions are being created for the new convocation of the Assembly to focus on the reform of the electoral legislation, and it was pointed out that the findings and recommendations contained in the reports of the Monitoring Mission represent very useful guidelines in this context. Along these lines, it will be important to publish of the final, comprehensive reports of the ODIHR, both from the parliamentary and the recently held presidential elections," the statement added.