Simonida Kordić from New Serbian Democracy (NSD) said that the model according to which the complete electoral reform is solved by one umbrella law has many problems because it does not cancel the possibility of internal conflict of norms within the law
"The Šavnik case is a spotlight that focused our attention on the anomalies of our electoral legislation. It showed that there are shortcomings in the electoral legislation that opened up space for situations to occur within the framework of the law where a municipality cannot elect its own government," said Kordić at the session. Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform.
Responding to the comment of Nikola Zirojević (SD), she said that she would not draw a parallel between Šavnik and Budva and Andrijevica because the election processes were carried out in those municipalities without major problems.
Nikola Zirojević from Social Democrats (SD) reminded that local elections will be held in several municipalities in the fall of this year. He added that, apart from Šavnik, there are also problems in Andrijevica and Budva.
"The issue of Šavnik is not a question of the quality of the law. The issue of Šavnik is a question of the implementation of the law. The problem we have in Šavnik did not arise because the legal solution is bad because we elected local self-government in the capital city, in Bar and in a number of other municipalities under the same law. So, the problem of Šavnik is the inability of the then executive power to ensure the conduct of the election process in a local self-government that has less than 2.000 voters," stated Zirojević.
According to him, the same persons appeared at two polling stations and disrupted the election process, and the Prosecutor's Office in Pljevlje qualified those acts as misdemeanors, and someone paid fines to those persons.
Democrat MP Nikola Rovčanin stated that it is very important to schedule a session on the Šavnik elections and that it must be a priority of that committee.
The session discussed the formation of a Commission for document verification based on applications for associate board members from the NGO sector and the academic community.
The status of associate member of the board can be participated by members of NGOs or academic communities without decision-making status. The condition for participation is that they have been actively active in the field of committees for the past three years, contributed to electoral reforms and achieved public recognition. The commission should consist of two members from the ruling majority and two members from the parliamentary opposition.
At the beginning of the session, the chairman of the committee, Vasilije Čarapić from the Europe Now Movement (PES), proposed himself and a deputy of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) as members from the ranks of the ruling majority.
The deputy of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and co-chairman of the board Nikola Rakočević proposed Admir Adrović from the Bosniak Party (BS) and Mihailo Andušić from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) as members of the parliamentary opposition.
With a unanimous decision, the board elected Čarapić, Vukićević, Adrović and Anđušić as members of the Commission, as well as Miloš Krstović (PES) as secretary of the board.
Čarapić pointed out that after choosing members from NGOs and the academic community, other people should be given the opportunity to participate in the work of the board, primarily international organizations.
He added that he will submit an initiative to hold a thematic session that will deal with the elections in Šavnik.
Anđušić (DPS) pointed out that it is absolutely necessary to include associated members, especially the non-governmental sector that actively deals with these issues because they can contribute to the board itself.
Rakočević (DPS) reminded that the public call for members from the academic community and the non-governmental sector is over, that applications have been received. He proposed that the commission consider those applications as soon as possible and that a new session be scheduled by the end of the week, where members from the NGO sector and the academic community would be voted for, and thus the committee would be completed. According to him, at that session, the rules of procedure should be adopted, so that way the board would be ready to form subgroups at the following sessions.
Ana Novaković Đurović from the Civil Movement (GP) URA pointed out that it is risky to give certain deadlines and that it is much more important to work with quality.
Rakočević concluded that the commission will take over its responsibilities today, and that a session will be held in a few days to vote on the attached members.
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