From November 2022, when their four-year mandate was expected to end, the councilors of the Šavnica parliament received 40.500 euros in basic councilor fees until January of this year.
The mandate of the current convocation of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Šavnik began at the end of June 2018, but has not ended after four years, but is still ongoing because local elections in that town have not been completed since autumn 2022.
There are 30 councilors on the benches of the Šavnik Municipal Assembly, who receive 50 euros per month, or 600 per year. Considering that they receive compensation for the “extended” mandate for two years and three months, this means that they have collected 40.500 euros during that time.
The ruling coalition of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Social Democrats (SD) has 19 representatives in the Šavnica parliament, while the opposition Socialist People's Party (SNP) and the parties of the former Democratic Front (DF) are represented by eight councilors, and the Democrats by three.
Since the end of 2022, municipal council sessions have been held electronically, i.e. via the Zoom application, but opposition representatives do not participate in them, although they receive compensation.
Councilor of New Serbian Democracy (NSD) Snezana Cupic, told "Vijesti" that the electronic session has been taking place since the elections in Šavnik were suspended.
“On one occasion, councilors (of the opposition) and citizens entered the municipal hall and did not allow the session to be held. Since then, the mayor (Jugoslav Jakić") and the local government decided to hold meetings via the Zoom application," she explained.
The possibility of holding electronic sessions was introduced by amending the Rules of Procedure of the Municipal Assembly in December 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. The amendments allow the Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of Šavnica to hold a session electronically, if necessary, if the majority of the councilors have confirmed receipt of the invitation to hold such a session “via email or other appropriate means.”
On the other hand, state parliament sessions can only be held electronically if the MP's freedom of movement is restricted by the competent authority "due to the application of measures to protect the population from infectious diseases in the emergency situation caused by the Covid-19 epidemic".
Čupić stated that the opposition does not participate in electronic sessions even though it receives invitations to do so.
"We all gave our email addresses, we receive invitations to those sessions, but we don't participate, nor do they send us links...", she added.
He says that they would not participate in the work of the Municipal Assembly even if the sessions were held in the building of that institution, because they believe that the elections that were not completed were not regular, and that "the voter list was not regular."
Čupić said that opposition councilors are ready to return the money they receive in compensation, if DPS representatives do the same.
The new-old mayor of Šavnik, Jugoslav Jakić (DPS), criticized opposition MPs the day before yesterday for regularly "taking appanages" even though they do not attend sessions.
The elections in Šavnik began on October 23, 2022, when they were held in 13 more municipalities, but were not completed because members of the polling stations from the opposition coalition "For the Future of Šavnik", led by the former DF, did not allow some newly registered voters to vote because, they claim, they were copied 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 suspended, after which the local election commission could not agree on a repeat. The State Election Commission (SEC) regularly holds sessions at which it acts on complaints regarding the elections in Šavnik and issues the same decision (there are over 150 of them) ordering the municipal commission to make a decision on a repeat election. However, when the president of the local commission calls a session, the result of the vote on a repeat election is such that a decision cannot be made - four votes in favor and four abstentions.
The Šavnica parliament voted Jakić for the president of the municipality two days ago. He was elected by the votes of the DPS and SD councilors. The fact that the councilors of the convocation constituted almost seven years ago "raised their hands" in his favor was not a problem for Jakić because, as he stated, "the mandate of councilors, according to the law, lasts until new ones are elected."
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According to the Law on Local Self-Government (Article 37), the mandate of the assemblies at that level lasts four years, and the mayor is elected (Article 56) no later than 30 days after their constitution, or (Article 66) no later than 30 days after the end of the mandate of the (previous) mayor. At the same time, the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives (Article 5) stipulates that the mandate of these citizens' representatives lasts four years, but that their mandate (Article 14) ends on the day the mandate of the representatives in the new convocation of local parliaments is confirmed.
Jakić stated that the same convocation of the Šavnica parliament also made much more important decisions than his election, such as the municipal budget adoption.
So far, 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.
Dukaj: We've done everything we could, it's the politicians' turn
Minister of Public Administration (MPA) Maraš Dukaj said yesterday that his department had done its job in accordance with the law regarding Šavnik and Kotor, where the "old" parliament should also soon elect the first person of the municipality.
Dukaj stated that a year ago, the Ministry proposed to the Parliamentary Committee for Electoral Reform to do "key things related to the legislative (electoral) framework."
He stated that they monitor the work of local assemblies and propose solutions, but that the Ministry's powers "are not comprehensive enough to complete the entire process."
"Exactly a year ago, compulsory administration was introduced in Šavnik, at the proposal of the MPA, but the agreement was to withdraw that decision, and let's see what we get a year later...", said Dukaj at a press conference after the Government session.
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He called on everyone to say what he did illegally regarding Šavnik, noting that a year ago he initiated changes to the election laws and later reminded parliament of this, but that the highest legislative body did not respond to him.
Dukaj stated that the MPA continues to monitor the work of all institutions of the system under its jurisdiction.
"The MPA and the Government have done everything, this is just the beginning of what we announced - not only for Šavnik and Kotor, but tomorrow for Nikšić and Herceg Novi as well, because we have blocked institutions of the system, such as the Constitutional Court," he added.
The minister assessed that the situation in Šavnik could be ended "in five minutes", with an agreement between politicians.
"For politicians to come to an agreement, that's key. Politicians talk more before the elections, and now the interests of citizens are (at stake)," said Dukaj.
The budget of Šavnik depends entirely on the state budget.
The budget of the Municipality of Šavnik, from which the local councilors receive their compensation, is entirely dependent on money received from the state level, as they only provide one-sixth of their own income.
Their budget for 2025 is 6,35 million euros, of which only one million is revenue generated by the municipality itself, three million are state-level grants, and 2,2 million are funds carried over from the previous year.
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