Groups of voters can only participate in elections if each person on their lists has their candidacy notarized, while they can only claim campaign funds as individuals. On the other hand, parties only need to verify their lists with the party seal before running, and they can obtain funding for campaign activities by applying for a loan.
This is how Mirza Krnić, a councilor of the "Preokret" movement in the capital's Assembly, explains the problems faced by those who do not participate in the elections as a party.
He told "Vijesti" that groups of voters cannot have a seal, which, he claims, makes political engagement more difficult for them.
"When you run for office, you certify everyone's individual candidacy in court or with a notary, and all accompanying statements and authorizations go through the same administrative-legal process. In other words, when you function as a group of voters, you cannot use a stamp and signature to verify the authenticity and legal validity of what you are doing because, to put it simply, you cannot get a stamp," says Krnić.
The interlocutor said that there are legal interpretations that the law should not be an obstacle to this, but that in practice it is not possible to realize it, adding that the parties resolve all these administrative issues - by affixing a seal.
"No matter how much they 'argue', with or without quotation marks, they will always agree on one thing: to make it more difficult for civic initiatives to participate in political life. In other words, they want to make it impossible for those who pay them to compete with them on an equal footing, even with their own money," Krnić told "Vijesti".
In addition to the paperwork issue, groups of voters also face difficulties in getting into parliament due to the inability to get a bank loan in the name of a political entity. They also face problems when they enter parliament due to high quotas for forming clubs.
"An additional disadvantage is in the area of campaign financing, or fundraising - parties can be granted loans, while groups of voters cannot. Then you have a new situation after you win mandates - then comes the systemic obstruction in local parliaments, where due to high quotas for the councilors' club, you are often excluded from the main administrative work of local parliaments of groups of voters," explains the newspaper's interlocutor, adding that his political entity in the capital's Assembly has two councilors, and that one more is needed to form a club.
Krinić says that "Preokret" has therefore launched an initiative to reduce that number. He also notes that there are a bunch of similar administrative restrictions that, in total, significantly slow them down, while providing significant relief to parties.
"In financial operations, it is not possible to establish a bank account for a group of voters, but it is always linked to an individual. In functional terms, this is a significant slowdown, with a significant loss of time," he adds.
Problems, but greater autonomy
Despite all of the above, Krnić assesses that individual autonomy is greater in the group of voters, but that it is "deliberately discouraged."
"This situation can be modified with just two articles of the law, but the so-called big players stubbornly refuse to do so because they want to preserve their political monopolies. They do not want a game on a healthy and competitively fair basis; they want as few free individuals in the political arena as possible," he claims.
The interlocutor of "Vijesti" says that he believes that "traditional political players" do not want to make it easier for citizens to participate in politics.
"No matter how much they 'argue', with or without quotation marks, they will always agree on one thing: to make it more difficult for civic initiatives to participate in political life. In other words, they want to prevent those who pay them from being able to compete on an equal footing with them, even with their own money. 'Preokret' often talks about this topic for this very reason, and I am really glad that this problem is increasingly recognized - not only as a phenomenon, but also as a serious obstacle to the conquest of basic political freedoms," Krnić concludes.
Asked whether "Preokret", after entering two local parliaments (Podgorica and Danilovgrad) and announcing its participation in the elections in Herceg Novi and Nikšić, would grow from a group of voters into a party, he replied that they were working "on a balance between the two."
"The 'turnaround' is made by a group of free people. I am free to say, a group that is becoming larger and more significant. I would not burden myself with the form but with the essence - it is true that there are certain administrative challenges when we act in this way, but, on the other hand, the freedom of individuals is also more pronounced. We are working to find a balance between these two aspirations. In this sense, we will propose solutions that would make it easier for citizens to organize themselves through a group of voters," says Krnić.
According to him, it is not disputed that people organize through parties, but he says that a sustainable possibility must be left for them to do so in the long term and as a group of voters.
"However, what I can say is that we are certainly becoming more complex and larger in structure, but I repeat that we also place great emphasis on decentralization and the autonomy of individuals who act on common principles, who share political values, and who are obliged to implement what we promise voters before the elections after them," said the interlocutor of "Vijesti".
Responding to the question of how electoral legislation should be amended when it comes to groups of citizens who want to participate in the election race, but do not want to be registered as parties, Krnić said that, first of all, they need to be able to easily obtain stamps and bank accounts, and thus, in administrative and legal traffic, be on an equal footing with parties. "Whenever a group of voters grows, which is now the case with 'Preokret', we always encounter logistical challenges posed by large parties. This discourages the entry of individuals who would enter politics on a freer and more autonomous basis. Obviously, this does not suit large parties, or political corporations. So, we are not asking for greater, but identical rights," he underlines and adds that, for the overall system and not just for groups of voters, the introduction of open lists would be beneficial. "If citizens finally knew exactly who they were voting for. I am convinced that this would also remove the burden of responsibility from party leaders, because citizens would take more responsibility for their choices, but they would also more easily come to better quality solutions, or at least solutions that they know are theirs. This is the first step towards the political turnaround that we need, in which key decisions are made by citizens. In this way, the general interest would be closer to the citizen," the interviewee says.
The “turnaround” occurred in 2022. So far, they have participated in the elections in Podgorica and Danilovgrad, and have announced their debut appearances in the upcoming elections in Nikšić and Herceg Novi. They attempted to achieve parliamentary status at the state level in 2023, but fell short of the threshold with 1,60 percent of voter support.
Bonus video:
