ODIHR team: Every country must have an organized voter list, local elections in one day a temporary solution

Assembly President Andrija Mandić hopes for a compromise when it comes to amending the Law on the Voter List, saying that the issue must be resolved as soon as possible, as local elections in several municipalities are approaching.

Mandić spoke today with the ODIHR expert team, which consisted of the head of the ODIHR Observation Mission for the presidential elections Tamaš Meserič, the head of the ODIHR Observation Mission for the parliamentary elections Nina Suomalainen and the adviser for the ODIHR election processes Goran Petrov.

The members of the ODIHR expert team, as announced by Mandić's cabinet, emphasized the importance that every country must have an organized voter list that "reflects the reality of the state", and added that it is a kind of temporary solution to hold local elections in one day.

"The President of the Assembly presented that the recommendations of the ODIHR observation mission were submitted to the competent Committee in the Parliament of Montenegro that deals with electoral reforms, and he pointed out that this committee represents a new policy of compromise that the 28th convocation of the Assembly leads, in the way that the Committee was composed of 7 members of the parliamentary majority and 7 members of the opposition and that, unlike the previous convocations, instead of the chairman of the Committee, this time they elected two co-chairmen", announced the office of the head of the parliament.

Mandić expressed the opinion that this enables a good atmosphere, because without it a compromise cannot be reached, which will result in the support of two-thirds of the deputies in the plenum for the reforms of key electoral laws.

He also referred to the problem of local elections, especially the local elections in Šavnik, which have not received their epilogue even after a year and a half. He pointed out that the census showed that, when foreigners are subtracted from the preliminary results, there are more voters than citizens in Montenegro according to the existing voter list.

Mandić concluded that the current convocation of the Assembly "proved very well" when it comes to reaching compromises on key issues and that he believes it will continue in that direction.

The members of the ODIHR expert team, as announced, pointed out that ODIHR delegations are always well received by institutions in Montenegro, and that they are ready to support the Assembly in every sense.

"The ODIHR expert team pointed out that it is good to hear that there is a good atmosphere in the Parliament of Montenegro and the fact that the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform is inclusive. They concluded that it is extremely important that a way to reach a compromise was found," the statement concludes. .