Shadow of Šavnik over Kotor: Uncertain when the elections in the coastal municipality will be finished

Today, the SEC should decide on two objections from the DPS, which complained that the MEC did not make a decision the day before last on repeating the elections in Prčanje.

At the session of the MEC, the outcome was tied, and if it remains so, the elections cannot be repeated.

Vladimir Jokić says that he will use all legal mechanisms to prove that the ratio of eight to eight is not sufficient for decision-making, saying that he will not allow the scenario of Šavnica

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If the elections are repeated, the DPS could take the mandate from the Democrats-PES coalition: detail from the polling station in Kotor, Photo: Media bureau
If the elections are repeated, the DPS could take the mandate from the Democrats-PES coalition: detail from the polling station in Kotor, Photo: Media bureau
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

If the State Election Commission (SEC) today orders Kotor to repeat the elections at one polling station in Prčanje and if she is unable to decide on that, as there are hints of what happened at her session the night before last night, the so-called the scenario of Šavnica - that the local elections cannot be completed.

In Šavnik, they have been "lasting" for almost two years, because the electoral commission there does not have the necessary majority for the decision to repeat voting at two polling stations - four members are in favor of it, and four abstained. At those polling stations, in the building of the Municipality of Šavnik and in the village of Kruševica, the elections were interrupted because the members of the electoral committees from the opposition coalition led by the former Democratic Front did not allow part of the newly registered voters to vote because, they claim, they were re-registered to support the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS ). Since December 2022, when voting was last held in two polling stations, the SEC has issued around 150 decisions unsuccessfully ordering the Šavnica commission to repeat the elections.

Today, the SEC should decide on two objections from the DPS, which complained to them that the Municipal Election Commission (MEC) of Kotor did not make a decision on repeating the election the night before last, and requested that it do so. At the meeting of the MEC, eight members supported the cancellation of the vote in the House of Culture in Prčanje, while eight were against it. At least nine "hands" are needed to make a decision.

And if it were to be counted that the MEC accepted that earlier objection of the DPS, because the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament (Article 109) states that the objection is considered adopted if the committee does not act on it within 24 hours of receipt, so that if the elections were repeated, the local commission should, in addition to canceling the vote, make a decision on calling the election, which it did not do.

If the representatives of the parties in the MEC were to "play tied" on this issue, the elections could not be repeated.

President of the MEC Anka Perović, she told "Vijesti" yesterday that she does not know when a decision will be made on calling elections, and that it does not depend on the commission.

"On Saturday, it was eight to eight, and so far everything has stopped," she said.

List holder of the coalition of Democrats and the Europe Now Movement (PES) in the elections in the coastal municipality Vladimir Jokic, told "Vijesti" that he will use all legal mechanisms to prove that the ratio of eight to eight is not enough to make any decision.

"We will appeal to the SEC and the Constitutional Court, and if they take the position that this can be done like this, theoretically I could submit an objection that the elections at all polling stations be annulled, because a flying elephant flew from one to another with a flying giraffe, and that The MEC automatically accepts it, without the SEC and the Constitutional Court challenging it," he said, saying that the coalition he led would certainly not allow the Šavnica scenario.

On Friday, the SEC adopted Jokić's objection to the MEC's ​​decision to repeat the voting at one polling station in Prčanje, because the commission did not pass it with the necessary majority (eight to seven). The MEC agreed to vote again because there were two more ballots in the ballot box (271 in total) than the number of control coupons (269).

According to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament (Article 89), voting at a polling station can be repeated if it is determined that the number of ballots in the box is greater than the number of voters identified in the extract from the voter list, if it is determined that the number of ballots is greater than number of coupons, that the number of slips is greater than the number of signed stubs and coupons, and if it is determined that there are two or more control coupons with the same serial number or a serial number that does not belong to that polling station. In that case, the electoral committee is dissolved and a new one is appointed, and the voting is repeated.

One term in play

If the elections in Prčanje were to be repeated, DPS could "steal" one mandate from the coalition of Democrats and PES.

According to the preliminary results of the elections in Kotor, DPS and the coalition PES-Democrats won ten mandates each, the alliance "For the Future of Kotor", Grbljanska Lista and Democratic Alternative three each, the European Union two, and the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI) and the Kotor Movement each one mandate .

At the polling station in the House of Culture in Prčanje, 266 voters voted (495 were registered), of which DPS received 98 votes, PES and Democrats 58, "For the Future of Kotor" 29, Grbljanska list four, Democratic Alternative 24, European Union 14, HGI 19 and Kotorski pokret 3.

The rest of the votes went to lists that did not pass the census - the coalition of the Socialist People's Party and the Democratic Serbian Party (13), the list "Guardians of the City" (two), and the Montenegrin Civic Action and the list "Za Kotor" (one each).

According to Donto's system, DPS lacks 18 votes to win the eleventh mandate, so the Democrats-PES coalition will lose one.

The Kotor Parliament has 33 council seats, which means that at least 17 votes are needed to form a government.

The coalition Democrats-PES and the list "For the Future of Kotor" have 13 mandates, which means that they lack four. On the other hand, the DPS with its traditional partners - the European Union consisting of the Social Democrats, the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and Citizens, and the HGI - has 13 mandates. If the "runaway" member is returned to them Davor Kumburović, whose Democratic Alternative has three mandates, then they would be within reach of forming a government.

SEC today and Kadić's objections

At today's session, the SEC will also decide on 15 objections submitted to them by Vuk Kadić, the leader of the Naprijed Movement, due to alleged irregularities in the elections held eight days ago in Podgorica.

He did so after the Election Commission of the Capital rejected his objections on Wednesday. Kadić asked her to annul the election and repeat voting at 14 polling stations, where 10.482 voters were registered. According to preliminary election results, 5.979 citizens voted at those polling stations.

The alleged irregularities referred to by Kadić concern the mismatch between the number of ballots and the number of control coupons, and one of the missing excerpts from the voter list in Doljani.

The "Forward" movement was about 200 votes short of entering the Podgorica parliament.

If the SEC accepts Kadić's objections, the elections will be annulled and repeated, and if it does not accept it, the holder of the "Forward" Movement list will be able to appeal to the Constitutional Court.

According to the preliminary results of the elections in Podgorica, DPS won 19 mandates in the city parliament, PES and Democrats 14, the list "For the future of Podgorica" ​​13, the coalition "For a better Podgorica" ​​six, the European Union three, and Preokret and the Party of European Progress two each.

A decade ago, the court judged that the objection is accepted when it is "unresolved"

If Jokić decides to review the "deadlock" in the MEC before the Constitutional Court, it will not be the first time that institution deals with this issue. In 2014, she assessed that in such a situation, the objection is considered adopted.

In 2014, the Constitutional Court accepted the appeal of the group of voters "Shule i Mikan with a citizen for Kolašin" and annulled the decision of the SEC, which stipulated that the elections at the polling station Đuđevina, near Kolašin, would not be organized a third time. The SEC made the first decision deciding on the objection of the electoral list "For the European face of Kolašin". From that coalition, they argued that the fact that an equal number of MEC members voted both for and against the objection of the "Šule i Mikan" list means that it was rejected, because it does not have the necessary majority, and not that the commission cannot make a decision, as "Shule and Mikan" claimed. That group of voters requested a repeat of the elections in Đudjevina because one person voted with an old ID card.

Explaining the decision according to which the appeal of the "Shule i Mikan" list was accepted, the Constitutional Court stated that the SEC "arbitrarily interpreted Article 21 of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament".

"From the provisions of Article 21 of the Law, it unequivocally follows that the bodies for the implementation of elections decide by the majority of votes of their (all) members, i.e. that the same numerical majority (one vote more) is required for both the adoption and rejection of any objection or decision of those bodies, and not that the objection is considered rejected simply because there was no majority for its adoption, as the SEC arbitrarily interprets it," the Constitutional Court stated.

According to the assessment of that institution, the provision of Article 109 paragraph 3 of the aforementioned law is relevant for the election dispute in this particular case, from which it follows that "the objection is considered adopted if the competent election commission does not issue a decision on the objection within the legal deadline of 24 hours".

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