The strongest parties in power and opposition, the Europe Now Movement (PES) and the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), cannot guarantee that the parliamentary Electoral Reform Committee, which continues its work today after a three-month blockade, will function smoothly and that any new political friction will not hinder it from completing the work for which it was formed.
DPS MP and committee co-chair Nikola Rakočević, told ''Vijesti'' that he cannot be "very optimistic" in this regard, because, as he assesses, "the parliamentary majority, whenever progress is made, resorts to political tricks that block the work of the Committee."
"And what's even worse for the country, such a policy blocks further progress towards the EU (European Union)," he said, claiming that the current opposition has never blocked the functioning of the parliamentary body dealing with electoral issues.
According to him, the work of the Committee has been blocked by the government with "unconstitutional and illegal attacks on the state's legal system, whenever society makes progress towards the EU", so, he adds, the real question is "whether the government will stop such practices".
On the other hand, the head of the PES parliamentary group and co-chair of the Committee Vasilije Carapić, stated that the body had been working at a slow pace for the past year, "since the opposition had blocked its work twice in an obvious attempt to slow down EU integration."
"This experience indicates that we should be cautious with expectations, because past practice has shown that the opposition does not like the accelerated pace of adopting reforms, and their declarative commitment to EU integration does not correspond to their behavior, which means that their words, oral or written, should not be understood as a guarantee of their constructiveness," he assessed for "Vijesti".
Years without results
The committee continues its work after a pause, or blockade, of almost three months, caused by the opposition's decision to leave it at the end of last year in protest at the way the Parliament determined the termination of the judicial function. Dragani Đuranović in the Constitutional Court. After part of the opposition signed on March 15 with the Prime Minister Milojko Spajić (PES) agreement on resolving the political crisis, the opposition returned to the parliamentary benches last week, and thus the Committee, which was formed in December 2023, was unblocked.
The Committee held four sessions from January to early April last year, and then did not meet until the end of June, as part of the opposition made the continuation of its work conditional on the withdrawal of the decision to introduce compulsory administration in Šavnik. Since the government implemented the opposition's condition, the Committee held a session at the end of June, at which it was agreed to propose an extension of the deadline for its work for a year (until the end of this year instead of the end of 2024) and to focus on the Draft Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns.
This body has achieved almost no results for years due to party or political conflicts. More than ten years have passed since the last change in electoral laws. The place was still in shambles until 2020, when the DPS ruled the country, and the shambles continued after that, when the former opposition parties came to power, which for decades had promised changes to electoral legislation, "cleaning" of voter lists, etc.
The Committee was blocked by the opposition, or rather the current government, in previous parliamentary sessions due to various issues - the Law on Freedom of Religion, disagreements over the appointment of representatives of the non-governmental sector (NGO) to the Committee, and the like.
Changing the electoral legislation, along with changing the Constitution (in terms of professionalizing the judiciary and prosecution), is among the key obligations in the "Reform Agenda of Montenegro" for this year, a document adopted by the European Commission as a condition for Montenegro to "withdraw" money from the fund under the EU's "Growth Plan for the Western Balkans".
Amendments to the Constitution and electoral laws require the support of two-thirds of the total number of MPs (54 out of 81), which means that this process cannot be carried out without the votes of the opposition.
Koprivica: There are no guarantees that there will be no blockade
Executive Director of the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) Dragan Koprivica, told "Vijesti" that, in the Montenegrin political context, there is no, nor can there be, a guarantee that the Committee will not be blocked again.
"The parties enjoy finding reasons why the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform is not functioning, and there can be no guarantee that someone will not block it again," he said.
Koprivica reminds that the range of reasons for leaving that body is very wide, ranging from issues of language names, religious issues, and municipal presidents, to bargaining over who should be a member of the board on behalf of NGOs and the academic community...
"And who, at this level of political responsibility, can guarantee you anything?" he asked.
While the work of the Committee is hampered by political games and the deadlines for publishing results are constantly being moved, new and bigger problems are emerging, which have caused the system to be blocked and which should be urgently resolved. One of them is the one from Šavnik, a municipality where elections have not been concluded for more than two years after they began.
At the same time, the highest international authorities, primarily from the EU, are persistently calling on Montenegro to change its electoral acts.
Vasilije Čarapić claims that, on the part of the parliamentary majority, and especially the PES, there is an intention to intensify the work of the Committee and to prepare the necessary reforms by September, while Nikola Rakočević says that the opposition will contribute to the quality and successful completion of the work on electoral reform with the NGO sector. Koprivica states that the Committee's priority is to begin seriously and energetically fulfilling its purpose - preparing laws that will enable comprehensive electoral reform.
One law does not make a reform
Today, the committee will consider the Draft Amendments to the Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns, which was prepared last year and was supposed to be put up for public debate on December 18, but the opposition then withdrew from that parliamentary body.
Koprivica explains that after more than a year of "work", an important law has been prepared, but that this act does not constitute the essence of the electoral process.
"The committee finally needs to do basic things for which there has been no political will so far: to adopt its own rules of procedure and to draw up a detailed plan of activities (after a year of work!) and to start seriously dealing with the key electoral law, the amendment of which requires a two-thirds majority of MPs," he said.
He reminds us that these "elementary things" have not been done so far, and that, if there are rules and work dynamics, it is not possible to repeatedly find excuses for inaction and violation of deadlines, or blocking reforms.
Koprivica says that the Draft requires improvements in order to fulfill the intent and purpose of its amendments, announcing that the CDT, after the public debate begins, will submit to the Committee suggestions "for which there was no political will to be included in the basic text."
"Our key suggestions will include solutions that should enable a fair and equal electoral process, prevent the misuse of state resources in campaigns, help combat foreign influence, and oppose illicit and hidden financing of parties and candidates," the interlocutor said.
Some members of the Committee, both from the government and the opposition, proposed at previous sessions that an amendment be made to the Draft to increase the amount of money that parties receive from the budget, which was not included in the existing text because PES opposed it.
"I have not had the opportunity to see this proposal in the draft versions of this law so far, but I really would not be surprised at all if it were on the agenda and supported by very 'strong arguments' that increasing this money is a vital reform that will democratize Montenegro and lead it onto the right and European path," said Koprivica.
Vasilije Čarapić recalls that the Draft was prepared in December, stating that "since then, no one has had additional suggestions on it."
"During the blockade of the Committee's work, I repeatedly called on my colleagues to stay on topic and send comments if they had any. However, no one reacted to that further," he said.
He said that the PES will not support increases in the amount of money that parliamentary parties receive from the budget, because, he claims, they are aware that this is unnecessary and would directly violate the recommendations of the European Commission.
On the other hand, Nikola Rakočević says that he expects the final text of the amendments to the aforementioned law to be determined as soon as possible, adding that "the dynamics depend on all political entities." He notes that whether there will be additional changes depends on today's discussion and suggestions from the NGO sector, as well as MPs.
"The opposition will insist that all possible changes be aimed at increasing quality," he said, also stating that the proposal to increase allocations to parties was not submitted to the Committee.
Čarapić: We will open a broad dialogue on the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship
The head of the PES club, Čarapić, said that they expect expert opinions from the OSCE/ODIHR on certain legal texts in April and May, with specific recommendations that they need to implement in order to reach EU standards.
"In that context, we will form working groups for individual laws, with the aim of having solutions ready by September, so that we can then submit them to the European Commission for an opinion," he said.
He explained that the work of the Committee covers a wide range of legal matters, from the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives, through the Law on the Voters' Register, on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns, on the Registers of Residence and Temporary Residence, on the Identity Card, on Political Parties, and all the way to the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship, on which, as he announced, he will "open a broad social dialogue precisely within this Committee".
"The recommendations that we need to adopt are numerous, and the ones that are most often emphasized are the professionalization of election administration, greater transparency and control over financing, cleaning the voter register, and defining a solution to hold local elections in one day," he said.
Šavnik is the best answer to why electoral reform is needed
According to Čarapić, the situation in Šavnik - where elections have not been completed for two and a half years - is the best answer to the question of why Montenegro needs electoral reform.
"Savnik represents the culmination of poor electoral legislation, and the prerequisite for solving this problem is political will and commitment to public, not party, interest. PES has a proposal for a legal solution that we are able to submit to the Committee and the Parliament for consideration, which we will do after the Committee is fully operational," he announced.
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" did not allow some of the newly registered voters to vote because, they claim, they were copied to support the DPS.
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