The opposition in Šavnik, in protest of the re-election of Jugoslav Jakić (DPS) as mayor, blocked the Šavnik-Žabljak road today from 13:45 PM to 15 PM.
The blockade is organized by the coalitions "For the Future of Šavnik" (NSD, SNP, DNP) and "Let's Go People" (DCG, UCG, PES).
They are demanding that representatives of the legislative and executive branches of government in the country react and resolve the Šavnik crisis, which has been going on since October 2022, and the local elections that have not been completed to this day.
"None of the officials of the current government in Montenegro have commented on the situation in Šavnik. The next step is a blockade lasting several hours," the Šavnik opposition said.
The opposition blocked the Šavnik-Žabljak road both yesterday and the day before yesterday.
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By the votes of councilors from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Social Democrats (SD), who attended the zoom meeting, Jakić was elected as the new/old president of the Municipality of Šavnik on February 19.
The session, which was then held via the Zoom application, was attended by 19 councilors from the ruling majority, who voted for Jakić, and one councilor from Democratic Montenegro who did not participate in the vote.
The fact that he was elected by councilors whose mandates ended almost three years ago is not a problem for Jakić because, as he told reporters after the election, according to the law, councilors' mandates last until new ones are elected.
Unlike them, opposition councilors, who do not attend Zoom sessions, because in Šavnik, sessions have only been held in this way since two years ago, then pointed out that neither Jakić nor the parliamentary convocation have legitimacy, but it seems that neither does the state, which still, even after almost three years, has failed to resolve the Šavnik crisis.
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The government decided to impose compulsory administration in Šavnik in April last year, but the president, Jakov Milatović, did not call elections. He explained at the time that, given that the mandate of the current Municipal Assembly expired in June 2022, its dissolution by a government decision after the expiration of the term for which it was elected could not result in the calling of new elections.
The mandate of local assemblies lasts four years, and the Šavnica assembly was constituted at the end of June 2018. The local elections that began in the fall of 2022 have not yet been completed in that municipality. Jakić was elected Mayor of the Municipality on February 18, 2021, when he replaced his party colleague Vlatko Vuković, who resigned.
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, because representatives of the coalition "For the Future of Šavnik" did not allow newly registered voters to vote. The State Election Commission 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 Election Commission of Šavnik to make a decision on repeating the elections. However, when the MEC president schedules a session, the results of the vote on repeating the elections are such that a decision cannot be made - four votes in favor and four abstentions.
So far, dozens of people have been prosecuted before the judicial authorities for events related to the elections in Šavnik, which included numerous incidents, breaking ballot boxes, tearing up ballots, preventing voters from voting, and there were also physical clashes.
And while everyone is shifting responsibility to someone else, the election "papazjanija" continues in Šavnik, and the media in the country and the region continue to report on the "power of Šavnik" to violate the Constitution and laws, and the state's inability to put things right even after three years.
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