Minister of Public Administration Maraš Dukaj presented today the Concept of the Law on Local Elections, which, among other things, provides for holding elections in one day and the direct election of municipal presidents.
Dukaj says it is a "democratic step forward".
"No interested party, no department, not even the Government, can enter this project alone. We all agreed on this issue and there were no differences between us from the MPA, experts from the academic community and people from the civil sector," the minister said at a press conference in Podgorica.
"I want to emphasize that the MPA did not enter this process until a month or three ago. Since 2022, we, the Union of Municipalities, and the civil sector have also entered the analysis. We could not solve the problem without a systemic solution, and now we have one," he added.
He says they have not yet received a response from the parliamentary Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform about single-day elections and the direct election of municipal presidents.
"Today I sent the draft law to that committee as a document, so that the law would be better and in line with European practice. I believe that we have made a big step forward, that the committee has quality solutions before it, and that all the prerequisites exist for the committee to achieve the goals for which it was established," said Dukaj.
It indicates that local self-government is the closest government to the citizens.
"The proposed concept introduces a special framework for local elections. The concept we are offering is divided into six parts," he explained.
"The first point is elections in one day. We are the only country in the region and Europe that has seven election cycles a year. The second point is open electoral lists at the local level. The third is the direct election of the mayor, the fourth is the direct election of local community councils," the minister said.
One of the points is a clear relationship between the state and municipal election commissions.
"Each solution is regulated in detail. This reform represents the foundation for a more inclusive system. I am convinced that most municipalities support this system. We believe that next year we will have better local elections," said Dukaj.
When asked by journalists what kind of support he expects, given that the committee has not yet adopted the Law on Financing Political Entities and Campaigns, Dukaj said that his department is providing a clean and honest contribution, knowing the situation they are in.
"As far as we're concerned, we're done," he pointed out.
He said he was optimistic about this issue.
How will the problem be solved when early elections occur?
Responding to the question of how the problem will be solved when early elections occur, Nina Blažić from the MPA said that it is envisaged that early elections can be held, but that this is presented as an exception and that the mandate of councilors elected in such elections lasts until the general local elections.
Mugoša: Some solutions are ready
The President of the State Election Commission, Nikola Mugoša, said that they offered solutions that are significant for the local level and can also be applied at the central level.
"We also offered unblocking mechanisms. The legacy of this work is in the working team that was established a month and a half ago, which held sessions twice a week. We primarily dealt with the local level, but the concept was presented to regulate certain institutes for the central level," he said.
Mugoša said that, along with the direct election of municipal presidents and deputies, and open lists, there must be a depoliticization of the election administration.
"The solutions we have provided are an expression of comparative practice. The public debate began a long time ago. Some solutions are ready - once they are standardized, they can begin to be implemented. The question is whether we will have a single electoral law or whether we will divide it into laws on the election of MPs and another on the election of councilors," he added.
Vujović: Key laws in a few months, if there is will
Zlatko Vujović, Director of the Center for Monitoring (CEMI) and Deputy President of the Global Network of Impartial Election Observers, said that the European Union expects Montenegro to reform its electoral legislation.
"We haven't been here fighting for years like on the Committee, but we've been working for a month, but we've agreed on all the solutions. Holding local elections at the same time is the practice in all countries in the region, except for Serbia and Montenegro. All these solutions increase responsibility. We believe that after this concept, they can make a draft in a month, and it can be adopted in another month. If there is political will, we could come up with key laws in a few months. What I will advocate for as an associate member of the Committee is to push this model forward, so that we don't constantly exhaust ourselves in political discussions," he said.
When asked how the representation of minority peoples at the local level would be resolved, Vujović said that the method of selecting mandates between parties remains the same, and that the order is chosen.
"The system will first add up the results of the lists. The impact of preferential votes will be extremely large, and the parties still retain control because they choose the candidates," he said.
He added that their proposal also envisages individual candidacies, and to prevent waste, they will be treated as minority lists - if those candidates exceed 0.7 percent, they will be treated as a collective list.
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