President of the Municipality of Kotor Vladimir Jokic believes that the three judges of the Constitutional Court, who were in favor of rejecting his complaints about the election process, did not vote according to the law and the Constitution, nor in accordance with their previous legal positions, but according to political dictates.
On October 11, Jokić submitted two appeals to the Constitutional Court, one related to election events at the Mirac polling station, and the other related to a polling station in Prčanje, where the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) is seeking a repeat election. The State Election Commission (SEC) ordered the Kotor Municipal Election Commission (MEC) to make a decision on new voting in those two places. The MEC did not make a decision on repeating the election, because eight of its members supported the annulment of the vote, while eight were against it. At least nine votes are needed to make a decision.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court did not make a decision on Jokic's appeals, as the result of the vote was 3:3. The Constitutional Court clarified in a statement that three judges took the position that they have the authority to examine the election dispute in essence, while three of them considered that the election procedure is strictly formal and that they should only examine procedural irregularities in the work of the competent election commission.
Judges Momirka Tešić i Snezana Armenko, who is also the president of the Constitutional Court, as well as a judge Faruk Resulbegović they were in favor of examining the essence of the election dispute. Judges Desanka Lopičić i Dragana Đuranović, as well as the judge Budimir Šćepanović they were against. The Constitutional Court currently has six judges, out of the seven prescribed by law, because it is a judge Milorad Gogic at the end of May, he became eligible for retirement, and the Assembly has not yet elected his deputy.
Jokić says that the paradox of this situation is reflected in the fact that Lopičić and Šćepanović are long-time judges of the Constitutional Court, who should behave in the same way in the same cases and thus ensure legal certainty.
"Despite this professional and moral obligation, these judges in deciding these issues violated earlier decisions, especially Judge Lopičić, who as president of the Constitutional Court signed dozens of decisions that conflict with her decisions in the Kotor case," says Jokić in the analysis of the decisions of the Constitutional Court. court submitted to "Vijesti".
The Constitutional Court did not answer the questions of "Vijesti" about whether Jokić's allegations are true.
In his appeals, Jokić claims that the SEC did not have the right to reject his objections without discussion, because in the Montenegrin legal system there is no longer an institute of rejection in administrative proceedings, but that he had to consider the essence of those objections, and only then make a decision whether to accept them or refuses.
"The complaints claim that the fact that the vote on the objection of the DPS at the MEC was 8:8 does not mean that the objection was not decided, as the president of the MEC claimed, but that the objection did not receive the necessary majority for adoption, and that it was not adopted, i.e. that it was rejected", says Jokić.
Also, he claims in his appeals that the Constitutional Court must go into the merits of the problem, that is, it must determine whether failures in the work of the polling boards require a repeat of voting at two polling stations, as well as that the lack of two coupons at a polling station in Prčanje is not a reason for repeating the election. because it does not affect the result.
In the appeal, Jokić states that the wrongly stamped back of the ballot paper in Mirac is not a reason for repeating the election, with additional confirmation that earlier the MEC unanimously decided upon his complaint that it was not even a reason to declare the ballot invalid.
"Each of the above-mentioned reasons for appeals was previously considered by the Constitutional Court, where the aforementioned judges took positions that contradict what they declared on Thursday," says Jokić.
He states that Lopičić and Šćepanović made dozens of decisions establishing that the SEC had no right to reject the complaint if it did not decide on the merits, i.e. if it does not decide on the substance of the objection, with the explanation that the SEC, by rejecting the appeals (objections) as inadmissible, denied the appellants the right to a legal remedy prescribed by law and that by an arbitrary and arbitrary interpretation of the procedural law "it violated the constitutional and convention right to an effective legal remedy" .
"Only in June 2014, Judge Lopičić, as the president of the Constitutional Court, signed 149 decisions with this kind of explanation following the appeals of Positive Montenegro, the Democratic Front and the Albanian Coalition," said Jokić.
He cites the example of the decision from 2016, signed by Lopčić as president of the Constitutional Court, in which the Constitutional Court takes the position that when an objection at a session of the MEC or SEC does not receive a majority, i.e. when the majority of committee members do not vote for adoption, that such objection is considered rejected.
"Judges Lopičić and Šćepanović decided in 2018, following an appeal within the framework of the presidential elections, that the Constitutional Court, regardless of procedural reasons, is obliged to make a decision on the merits of the problem in order not to allow abuses in the electoral process," says Jokić.
As he adds, the Constitutional Court has previously taken the position in several cases that the lack of coupons is not a reason for repeating the election in numerous decisions, and "it will take the same position without any hesitation in 13 appeals of the movement Vuk Kadić (Movement Forward)”.
The Constitutional Court will decide on 13 appeals from the Forward Movement at a session on Wednesday or Thursday, "Vijesti" learns.
The Constitutional Court confirmed that they requested a statement from the SEC regarding those appeals.
At its session on Thursday, the Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by the Forward Movement to repeat the vote in Doljani. 13 more remain to be declared.
In his analysis, Jokić also states that in 2018, the Constitutional Court made a decision in which, in connection with the appeal at the local elections in Podgorica, that the ballot papers were stamped in the wrong place on the back or that they were not stamped at all, it took the position that this was not a significant violation of the electoral process, i.e. that this is not a reason for repeating the election.
"Judges Lopičić and Šćepanović also voted for this decision. From all of the above, it is clear that the mentioned judges did not vote in accordance with the law, the constitution and conventions, nor in accordance with their earlier legal positions, which they were obliged to do, but only and exclusively according to political dictates", concluded Jokić.
According to the preliminary results of the elections in Kotor held on September 29, 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 Alliance two, and the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI) and Kotor movement for mandate. By repeating the elections in two polling stations, DPS can "seize" the mandate from PES and the Democrats.
OIK without quorum
The MEC of Kotor did not hold a session on Sunday, at which it was supposed to decide again on repeating the elections at two polling stations, because it did not have a quorum.
The DPS announced yesterday that the authorities in Kotor continue with obstructions and are doing everything to prevent the announcement of the final election results.
"This time, they blocked an attempt to hold a session of the MEC, all in order to prevent the implementation of the law and the decision to repeat the elections at two polling stations where there was a serious violation of the electoral procedure. We waited for the SEC to review the entire situation, then we waited for the Constitutional Court to do the same, so that the DPS fully respected absolutely every procedure and all the participants of the election process", according to the Municipal Board of the DPS.
Jokić previously said several times that he would not allow a "Savnica scenario" in Kotor.
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