For about a hundred sessions that were either not held due to a lack of quorum or that did not result in a decision to repeat the elections in Šavnik, members of the Municipal Election Commission (MEC) received at least 20.000 euros from the budget.
According to information obtained by "Vijesti", OIK members received 50 euros for not (holding) each OIK session, and there were around 2022 of them from November 100 until the end of January this year.
Part of the sessions, which were scheduled almost every week, except for holidays, were held, because all members came at the very beginning, so the voting result was 4:4.
After those first sessions that were held, according to information from "Vijesti", four members did not come at all, which indicates that even if only four MEC members received compensation, the minimum amount is around 20.000 euros.
The President of the Municipal Election Commission of Šavnik, Dušan Radanović, did not deny this information, stating that "they have the decision made by the Municipal Election Commission."
Responding to the question of whether they are paid their compensation regardless of the fact that the session is not held, he said that "everyone has to come to attend that session."
"It doesn't matter whether it was held or not. Every one was held. It is held in the sense that people come to the session. The fact that there is no quorum for further decision-making does not mean that the session of the municipal election commission was not held," said Radanović.
When asked if it was 50 euros each time, he said that these were internal documents of the MEC, so he couldn't say.
In Šavnik, elections have been ongoing since October 2022, because members of polling stations from the opposition coalition "For the Future of Šavnik" did not allow some newly registered voters to vote because, they claim, they were granted residency only to support the DPS.
At two polling stations, in the Municipality building and in the village of Kruševice, where 541 voters are eligible to vote, voting took place nine times, the last time on December 18, 2022, when the elections were again interrupted, after which the local MEC could not agree on repeating them.
The State Election Commission (SEC) regularly holds sessions where it acts on complaints regarding the elections in Šavnik and issues the same decision (there are over 150 of them) ordering the Šavnik MEC to make a decision on repeating the elections.
However, when the MEC president scheduled a session, the results of the vote on the repeat election were such that a decision could not be made - four votes in favor and four abstentions, or there was no quorum to hold the sessions.
An interlocutor familiar with the election process told "Vijesti" that it is common for MEC members to receive compensation only during the election process.
"They are essentially only busy then. No MEC in Montenegro is funded except for the period from the announcement of the elections to the determination of their final results. The MEC is a permanent body in the sense that its members are elected for four years, but it is in fact a temporary body that works during the elections," said the source.
Since March last year, the new OIK consists of old members Dušan Radanović, president, Milijana Ašanin and Jelena Milatović from DPS, and new members Nenad Marković from DF and Mira Vuković from SNP. The secretary of the commission is Anka Kapešić from Democrats.
It is not clear how the new members were elected, when the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives states that election commissions are appointed after the constitution of the newly elected assembly for a period of four years. The current convocation of the Šavnica parliament was elected almost seven years ago.
The President of the Municipality of Šavnik, Jugoslav Jakić, did not answer "Vijesti" whether it was true that the members of the Commission receive 50 euros for each attempt to hold a session, saying that the question was for the MEC.
When asked from which budgetary source these funds are paid and based on which legal act, he said that Article 112 of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives, among other things, stipulates that funds for the work of the election administration bodies, election materials and other expenses for the implementation of elections are provided by the municipal assembly for the election of councilors, and by the Assembly for the election of representatives.
"Accordingly, funds in the amount of 2025 euros have been planned from the budget of the Municipality of Šavnik for the purposes defined by law for the costs of conducting local elections in the Municipality of Šavnik in 30.000," said Jakić.
The President of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Šavnik, Nadežda Kotlica, did not answer the questions of "Vijesti" whether it is true that MEC members receive 50 euros for each attempt to hold a session, from which budgetary source these funds are paid and how much total funds have been paid to MEC members so far on this basis. The request for the allocation of funds for the implementation of local elections, including remuneration for members of the election commission, with a specification of the total costs is submitted by the Municipal Election Commission, as stated in the law.
Since the beginning of the elections in Šavnik in 2022, dozens of people have been prosecuted before judicial authorities for events related to the elections in Šavnik, which included numerous incidents, including physical clashes.
In order to resolve the Šavnik crisis, the government decided at the end of March last year to introduce compulsory administration in the municipality, but withdrew the decision in early June, as this was one of the opposition's conditions to "unblock" the work of the electoral reform committee. However, there has been no progress in resolving the Šavnik crisis since then.
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