The leader of the coalition "For the Future of Budva" Mladen Mikijelj sent urgent letters today to the Minister of Public Administration Maraš Dukaj and the President of the State Election Commission Nikola Mugoša, demanding that they "act urgently and prevent lawlessness" in the Budva Municipal Assembly, accusing the leaders of the Municipality and Parliament, Nikola Jovanović and Petar Odžić, of a legal coup.
This is stated in letters submitted to the editorial office of "Vijesti".
"We are addressing you regarding the implementation of the Law on the Election of Councillors and Deputies, the Law on Local Self-Government, the Rules of Procedure of the Budva Municipal Assembly, as well as the Decision on the Formation of Working Bodies in the Budva Municipal Assembly. We hereby wish to express our deep concern regarding the current work and decisions being made in Budva. We demand urgent action regarding the illegal actions in the Budva Municipal Assembly – the appointment of the President of the MEC We are addressing you regarding the implementation of the Law on the Election of Councillors and Deputies, the Law on Local Self-Government, the Rules of Procedure of the Budva Municipal Assembly, as well as the Decision on the Formation of Working Bodies in the Budva Municipal Assembly. We hereby wish to express our deep concern regarding the current work and decisions being made in Budva. In the work of the Budva Municipal Assembly, led by Mr. Petar Odžić and supported by the Secretary Mr. Berislav Fabris and the President of the Municipality Mr. Nikola Jovanović, we are witnessing legal violence that is being committed with the aim of challenging the legitimate election results and carrying out a legal coup, which is not only illegal, but may have "far-reaching consequences for democratic processes in Montenegro," Mikijelj stated in the letter.
He points out that according to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives, it is clearly defined that the president of the municipal election commission is proposed by the party or coalition that won the largest number of mandates in the elections.
"In the elections held on November 17th of last year, the list 'For the Future of Budva - Budva, must move forward!' achieved 25,93 percent of the support of the citizens of Budva, which is equivalent to 2.979 votes or nine mandates. The second ranked list, 'Budva our city - Nikola Jovanović', won 25,30 percent, which is 2.907 votes and also nine mandates. Although the results in mandates are equal, our list is first, which gives us the position for the president of the MEC in accordance with the election rules and the aforementioned laws. Specifically, Article 17 of the Law explicitly stipulates that in the event of a tie in mandates, priority is given to the party or coalition that has collected a greater number of votes. In accordance with the Law, in the event that coalition electoral lists and parties that have submitted independent electoral lists have the same number of mandates, the appointment of the president of the municipal electoral commission is made at the proposal of the party or coalition that has won a greater number of votes. Furthermore, in the event that coalitions have the same number of mandates, the president of the municipal electoral commission is appointed at the proposal of the coalition whose electoral list received a greater number of votes. When it comes to parties that submitted independent electoral lists and have the same number of mandates, the appointment of the president of the municipal electoral commission is made at the proposal of the party that won the largest number of votes. Given the described circumstances, there are serious doubts regarding the legality of the decisions made in the Assembly,” Mikijelj stated.
He points out that the adoption of decisions that favor a single party and allow the second-ranked list, "Budva our city", to receive privileges in appointing the president of the MEC, represents a violation of electoral legislation.
"This is unacceptable and the question arises whether this is political pressure or manipulation of election results. Laws are being blatantly and flagrantly violated in Budva (we attach a document confirming the above). It is proposed that the list 'Budva, our city' has a president and one member, as well as their replacements in the Municipal Election Commission (MEC), and that DPS be represented with a secretary, one member and their deputies. They are asking our list 'For the future of Budva, Budva must move forward' to propose one member and his deputy. We are aware that in Budva there is an (un)confirmed coalition between Budva, our city" and the Democratic Party of Socialists, but we cannot allow the violation of the Law and mockery of the legal system of Montenegro. We note that, in accordance with Article 25 of the Law, the secretary of the MEC is elected at the proposal of the opposition electoral list, which DPS certainly is not, because it voted for the election of two leading political positions in the city, which makes the government - opposition more difficult to define. In Budva, double voting is applied "By the yardstick, the opposition parties are not opposition and the ruling parties are not ruling, depending on the need to appoint bodies in which "Budva, our city" will have a majority," Mikijelj emphasizes.
He expects this to be put to an end with a prompt response.
"In addition to the problems in the OIK, we also draw attention to Article 43 of the Law on Local Self-Government, which defines that, for the efficient and rational performance of tasks within the competence of the Assembly, committees and councils shall be established as permanent working bodies. In this Decision, Article 4, paragraph 2, it is clearly stated that the composition of the committee should reflect the party representation of councilors in the Assembly. From all of the above, we ask the key question: based on what criteria was it proposed that the second-ranked list "Budva, our city" receive two members in the Committee for Election and Appointment (a president and a member)? We hope that you will preserve the integrity of the elections and citizens' trust in the institutions of the system," Miklijelj concluded.
He also delivered the letters to Jovanović and Odžić, as well as to the councilors.
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