The electoral system in Montenegro should be upgraded, improved and open lists introduced into it, because it is more democratic, believes the protector of human rights and freedoms of Montenegro, Šućko Baković, assessing that the existing system cannot be characterized as unconstitutional.
Baković, in an interview for the PR Center, said that Article 45 of the Constitution of Montenegro defines that elections are free and direct, stating that the first part of the norm that elections are free "does not cause serious disagreements in interpretation and approach".
"But this second part about immediacy causes dilemmas and problems. We can agree or disagree with the decision of the Constitutional Court, but it is the decision of an institution in the state, which is the only one responsible for exercising abstract control of legal norms, i.e. examining the constitutionality and legality of laws and by-laws," Baković said.
He reminded that the Constitutional Court, ruling on the initiative of the Citizens' Group "Civil Action", decided that the provisions of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, which regulate the electoral system, are not inconsistent with Article 45 of the Constitution of Montenegro.
"It is a serious legal issue and it deserves a deep legal analysis and it deserves an honest and extremely professional approach. How this issue will be legally resolved depends on how we will arrange our legal system, that is, how we will define the electoral legislation," Baković pointed out.
He said that the decision of the Constitutional Court contains certain arguments, that the court referred to the positions of the court in Strasbourg and that "the Constitutional Court interprets that the principle of immediacy has not been violated".
"Part of the legal public has interpreted that the Constitutional Court, evaluating the constitutionality of the provisions of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, reduced the principle of immediacy to the act of voting itself, i.e. to the right to vote. I say that this is a serious legal issue. The Constitutional Court resolved it as dismissed him and that decision should be accepted", said Baković.
According to him, Montenegro does not have a stable electoral system.
"Since 1990, since the introduction of multi-party system, we have had more than ten amendments. And that is not good. The system must be stable. Of course, efforts were made to improve that system. This model that we have, other countries also have, but they also have other sub-variants", said Baković.
He believes that, in the electoral system, the "most debatable" are the closed electoral lists.
"I think that in the upcoming changes, we should seriously consider upgrading and improving this system and introducing a system of open lists. I am deeply convinced that it is a more democratic system, but that does not mean that the existing system could be characterized as unconstitutional "All the more before we have the decision of the Constitutional Court," Baković assessed.
In the electoral system with open lists, the citizen, that is, the voter, as he said, would be able to, by opting for one electoral list, give support to those candidates who are on that list, and for whom, as he added, he believes that deserved to be on the list.
"In the system of open lists, the citizen will give support to those people he thinks should be supported. And then those people, considering the number of votes, can get a higher position. One vote goes for the list, and within the list, how many of them are received votes, and that order will be determined by the citizens. I think it is more democratic. It may be technically more difficult to implement, but I do not think that the technical side should prevail over the principled one," explained Baković.
According to the ruling electoral system, as he believes, the power of political parties has significantly strengthened.
"This system would certainly reduce the ability of the parties to seriously influence the other half of the candidates from the list, which the parties can, according to the current system, determine. Rather, it would be the voter who would determine the order of the list, after the distribution of mandates," explained Baković. .
Citizens' group "Civil Action" appealed to state institutions, the media and the International Court of Justice in Strasbourg for, as they said, the harmonization of electoral legislation with the Constitution of Montenegro in order to respect the right to vote.
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