To the President of the Municipality of Kotor Vladimir Jokić his mandate expires today, but he says that he will not extend it, nor will he allow a "Savnica scenario".
Local elections were held in Kotor on September 29, but due to objections regarding two polling stations (Mirac and Prčanj Cultural Centre), the final results have not yet been announced. Due to the stalemate in the Municipal Election Commission (MEC), as well as in the Constitutional Court, it has not yet been decided whether the elections at those polling stations will be repeated.
Jokić told the News that the actions of the State Election Commission (SEC) and part of the judges of the Constitutional Court "will represent a monument in legal science."
"When it is tied at the Municipal Election Commission (MEC), when it is 8:8, then the SEC considers that the objection of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) has been accepted, and when it is tied at the Constitutional Court, when it is 3:3, the Constitutional Court also informs as long as he has not yet decided on my appeal, then the SEC considers that the appeal has been rejected. That's all you need to know about the legal and electoral system in Montenegro,'' he said.
He notes that he can prolong this legal situation indefinitely and that he will also extend his mandate, "but that he will not allow a scenario from Šavnica in Kotor." In Šavnik, due to a stalemate in the local commission that cannot make a decision on repeating the elections at two polling stations, the elections have not been completed for two years, that is, DPS has been in power for seven years.
Jokić announced a media conference for today, where he will speak in more detail about the solution to the election crisis in Kotor.
On October 11, he submitted two appeals to the Constitutional Court, which were considered on October 24. The Constitutional Court, however, did not make a decision on Jokić'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.
In his analysis of the actions of judges of the Constitutional Court, Jokić stated that the paradox of this situation is reflected in the fact that Lopičić and Šćepanović are long-standing judges of the Constitutional Court, who should behave in the same way in the same cases and thus ensure legal certainty.
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.
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.
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