Vladimir Jokić, the list holder of the coalition Democrats/Movement Europe now in the local elections in Kotor, submitted a complaint to the State Election Commission (SEC) due to, as he stated, the omission of the local election commission.
In the complaint, he reminds that the Municipal Election Commission (MEC) held a session on November 2, where it decided on the repeat of the election based on the objections of the Municipal Committee of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) in Kotor, at polling stations number 17 - Prčanj and 28 - Mirac.
As he states, the MEC, by a majority vote of its members, in accordance with the provisions of Article 21 of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, first included in the agenda of the session proposals for resolutions on the annulment of elections at polling stations, after which it rejected the proposed resolutions at the same session, by a majority of votes also rejected the proposed decision on repeating voting in those places.
On November 5, the Municipal Committee of DPS in Kotor submitted an objection to the DEC, which rejected it as unfounded.
"Importantly, the SEC states that since there are no previous decisions on annulment of the elections at polling stations 17 and 28 in Kotor in the legal circulation, and as the MEC of Kotor rejected the decision on the annulment of the elections, therefore the legal prerequisites for repeating the elections at these polling stations have not been met. polling stations," reminds Jokić, the current president of the Municipality of Kotor.
DPS filed an appeal against the decision of the SEC to the Constitutional Court, which did not make a decision, due to the "deadlock" position (3:3), i.e. no majority was needed to make a decision.
Jokić says that since there was no majority by which the Constitutional Court would amend or cancel the appeal decision of the SEC, by force of law it became final and enforceable.
He reminds that Article 98 of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament stipulates that the Municipal Election Commission shall determine the final results of the election for councilors within 12 hours of the expiry of the deadline for submitting objections or appeals, or from the finality or enforceability of decisions made on objections or appeals.
"As all the deadlines for submitting objections or appeals have expired, as well as the fact that all the deadlines for making decisions on them have expired, the conditions have been met for the Kotor Municipal Council to determine the final results of the elections for councilors in the Kotor Municipality. Bearing in mind that this election process until the filing of this complaint was an opportunity to determine many legal practices and interpretations in the election process, I especially note that the State Election Commission acted on the complaint of DPS Kotor number 584 of on 28.10.2024/24.10.2024/XNUMX and passed a decision approving the submitted complaint, at the time when it was informed by the Constitutional Court's act of XNUMX/XNUMX/XNUMX that a decision was not made on the same issue in accordance with the law," said Jokić.
The SEC's legal obligation, as he adds, in accordance with the provisions of Article 32 of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, is to act equally in the same situations, to take care of the uniform application of the provisions of the law, and to act in this case in the same way as in the case of the complaint DPS.
"Given that in both cases, the SEC was informed by the Constitutional Court that the decision on the appeal was not made within the legally prescribed time limit, as well as that in the case of the complaint by DPS OO Kotor, this did not represent an obstacle for the meritorious decision on the complaint, nor any kind of of the previous question, I expect the SEC to act on this complaint as well. Any other action could only be interpreted with the Latin maxim 'Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi,'" said Jokić.
According to him, the members of the Kotor MEC demanded the president of the MEC at least twice to schedule a meeting to discuss the current status of the election process in Kotor, which she did not do.
"After receiving the notification from the Constitutional Court, the political entity DPS OO Kotor, in front of which is also the delegated president of the Kotor MEC, informed the public several times in the media about its unwillingness to convene a session of the MEC or to announce the final results of the election for councilors, regardless of the legal conditions for such action are fulfilled. It is indisputable that everything is done so that this election process is not ended in accordance with the law, but that such a delay creates a new legal and political problem," he says. Jokic.
He especially points out and reminds the State Election Commission that until the session held on November 2, the Municipal Election Commission failed to make any decision related to objections by a majority of votes, but the participants of the process used only legal and procedural options.
According to Jokić, after the session of the MEC on November 2, the MEC made a decision on the merits for the first time, and the decision was then confirmed by the SEC by issuing a Decision on the rejection of the DPS complaint.
"At all previous sessions of the MEC Kotor, 8 out of 16 members of the MEC voted for the submitted objections, which the president of the MEC incorrectly interpreted as not having been decided on, although she had to state in accordance with the law and the practice of the Constitutional Court that the objections were rejected. This is especially the case with the provisions of Article 3 of the Law on the Constitutional Court, which states that positions on certain issues expressed in the decisions of the Constitutional Court are binding for all state bodies, and bearing in mind the decision of the U-VI No. 15/16 from 2016, by which the Constitutional Court takes the position that when an objection does not receive a majority at the session of the MEC or SEC, that is, when the majority of the commission members do not vote for adoption, that such an objection is considered rejected, Jokić stated.
He clarifies that in the aforementioned decision of the Constitutional Court, it is written: "Considering that five members voted for the adoption of the complaint of the complainant, and that four members did not express themselves, and that in accordance with the Law and the Rules of Procedure, the same numerical majority (one more vote) is required for its adoption or rejection, the Constitutional Court assessed that the State Election Commission correctly determined that the objection was not adopted, because the majority (six members of the State Election Commission) did not vote for its adoption. For the eventual approval of the objection, in the sense of the provisions of Article 21 of the Law and Article 14 of the Rules of Procedure, as ordered by the Constitutional Court, it would be necessary for at least six of the 11 permanent members of the State Election Commission to attend the session and for the approval of the objection to be voted by all six members of the State Election Commission. commission, i.e. the majority of members of the State Election Commission. In this regard, the fact pointed out by the complainant, that the other present members of the State Election Commission did not vote and declare their objection, in the opinion of the Constitutional Court, does not influence the final outcome of the vote on not accepting the objection, given that the majority of members The State Election Commission did not vote for its adoption, that is, there was no vote on rejecting the objection."
Jokić proposes that the SEC approves the objection and that, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, especially Articles 32 and 109, order the president of the Kotor MEC to schedule a meeting of the MEC, order the Kotor MEC to determine the final results of the election for councilors in the Municipal Council of Kotor and to publish the data in accordance with the provisions of Article 99 of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament after determining the final results of the election.
According to the preliminary results of the elections in Kotor, held on September 29, DPS and the coalition Movement Europe Now-Democrats each won ten mandates, 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 the Kotor movement for a mandate.
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