If the draft local election regulations prepared by the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) become law, municipal presidents will be able to be recalled from office at the request of two-thirds of councilors or 30 percent of voters at the local level, and the decision will be made by voters in a referendum.
"In both cases, the municipal assembly (MA), in an urgent procedure, makes a decision to call a referendum," states the draft law, which was presented yesterday by the Minister of Public Administration Maraš Dukaj with members of his working group that wrote the document.
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The concept envisages the direct election of municipal presidents and deputy mayors, the introduction of a preferential voting system for the election of councilors and members of local community councils, and the depoliticization of municipal election commissions, as well as holding elections in one day.
In order for the mayor to be recalled, as stated in the proposed provisions, it is necessary for one third of the total number of registered voters to vote in the referendum and for at least 50 percent plus one voter, of the total number of voters who turned out, to vote for the recall.
This matter is now regulated by the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives and the Law on Local Government.
According to the Law on Local Government, the mayor is elected and dismissed by the Municipal Assembly and gives consent to the decision on the appointment and dismissal of the deputy mayor.
The draft law on local elections stipulates that the mayor and his deputy are elected on a single candidate list by direct voting.
"The candidacy for mayor and deputy mayor is confirmed if it has the support of at least 0,4 percent of voters in the electoral unit, provided that this number cannot be less than 50 for this candidate list to be accepted. In order for the list for mayor and deputy mayor to be accepted, it must contain candidates of different genders," the document states.
As explained, the mayor and his deputy are elected in direct elections and each voter can vote for only one list. From the candidate list that receives 50 percent plus one vote of the total number of valid ballots, the mayor and deputy mayor are elected. If no candidate list receives 50 percent plus one vote, the Municipal Election Commission (MEC) organizes a second round of voting after 14 days for the two lists that received the highest number of valid votes.
The controversial model of electing municipal leaders based on political agreements
The introductory part of the proposed regulation states that the Government's "Analysis of the Functioning of the Local Self-Government System" has shown that the existing model of electing the mayor is not adequate, nor aligned with modern international practice, since its legitimacy does not derive directly from the electoral will of citizens, but from political agreements within local assemblies.
It is recalled that in practice, the mechanism of so-called "rotating municipal presidents" is often present, by which parties agree on the distribution of mandates so that the candidate of one party serves as president during the first half of the term, and the candidate of the other takes over the remaining period.
"This political practice, although not formally prohibited, is deeply controversial because it undermines the stability and functionality of local government, and in some cases leads to institutional blockages," it states.
Problems with the rotation of the president caused the December snap elections in Berane, and in Ulcinj, also last year, the ruling majority was reshuffled due to this, accompanied by incidents. There have been similar cases in previous years.
The draft law also points to increasingly frequent problems in completing the electoral process, including the inability to constitute local parliaments after elections and situations in which the mayor is elected by an assembly whose mandate has expired - which is contrary to the principles of democratic legitimacy.
This happened in Šavnik, where elections could not be completed in two electoral districts for two and a half years, so the local assembly, whose mandate had expired, re-elected Jugoslav Jakić as the mayor of that municipality. A similar situation exists in Kotor, where the old assembly re-elected Vladimir Jokić as the mayor, because the Constitutional Court could not rule on the election complaints, and the final results of the local elections, held in September last year, were not declared.
Data from the Government's analysis, it is added, show that the average voter turnout in local elections exceeds 60 percent, which indicates a relatively high level of political awareness and a expressed willingness of citizens to participate in decision-making through the electoral process.
Among the key problems in the current electoral system, politicized election administration, the phenomenon of "electoral tourism", i.e. the transfer of voters from one municipality to another in order to influence the election result, and inadequate legislation and inefficient implementation of rules on the representation of women in local parliaments were also cited.
Law referred to the Electoral Reform Committee
Presenting the concept of the law on local elections, Minister of Public Administration Dukaj said that they had sent a proposal to the Parliamentary Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform, "so that it would be better and in line with European practice."
Responding to a journalist's question about how the problem will be resolved when early elections occur, Nina Blažić from the Ministry of Public Administration 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.
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.
Zlatko Vujović, director of the Center for Monitoring (CEMI) and deputy president of the Global Network of Impartial Election Observers, announced that holding elections in one day is a practice in all countries in the region, except for Serbia and Montenegro.
When asked how the representation of minority peoples at the local level would be resolved, Vujović replied 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 - that if these candidates exceed 0,7 percent, they will be treated as a collective list.
The novelty of electing local community councils in elections
The key innovation in the electoral system, proposed by the draft law, relates to the election of local community councils in elections.
"Elections for members of local community councils are held on the same day as elections for municipal assembly members and elections for the president and deputy president of the municipality," the document states.
Elections for the local community council are announced by the municipal assembly, and three, five, seven or nine members are elected.
Three members are elected in a local community in whose territory up to 1.000 adult citizens reside, and five in a local community in whose territory 1.001 - 4.000 adult citizens reside.
Seven members are elected in a local community in whose territory 4.001-8.000 adult citizens reside, and nine in a local community with over 8.000 adult citizens.
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