Socialist People's Party (SNP) President Vladimir Joković supported the citizens of Šavnik who, as he says, are justifiably protesting against "the abuse of voting rights and electoral tourism in that town orchestrated by the DPS."
"The fact that in Šavnik one mandate is worth about 40 votes, and that there are as many as 380 more voters on their electoral roll than there are inhabitants in that municipality speaks volumes about the scale of electoral engineering. But even this manipulation of the electoral roll for more than 25 percent of voters was not the end of DPS manipulations, because the councilors of that party, whose mandate expired three years ago, installed the new-old president at an electronic session. Thus, the citizens of Šavnik gained power in 2025 with the votes of councilors who were elected in 2018. To make matters worse, these same councilors shortened their own mandates in March 2024," Joković announced.
He says that this situation "has not been recorded in European practice."
"Regardless of the criticism we level at DPS, their matrix of actions is well known to us and it cannot be an excuse for us to tolerate the situation they have created in Šavnik. The truth is that we have failed as a system, and we have let down the citizens of Šavnik the most."
He said that he is aware that the responsibility for resolving the situation lies with the institutions of the system - the President of the state, the Parliament, and the Government.
"It is politically irresponsible to shift responsibility from one institution to another. As a system, we must find a way to stop the arbitrariness of the DPS, which in every municipality finds a mechanism to block electoral processes. At the same time, we give full support to the true residents of Šavnik, who defend the Constitution of Montenegro, which clearly states that a government cannot be established or recognized that does not stem from the freely expressed will of citizens in democratic elections," the statement reads.
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