Šavnica "election tourists" who deregistered their residence in that municipality after the elections that began in October 2022 and have not yet concluded will not be able to participate in a possible repeat vote at two polling stations, regardless of whether they are on the voter list.
This stems from the proposed amendments to the Law on the Voters' Register, which the Democratic Party will submit to parliamentary procedure.
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This, as stated in the proposal, is "particularly significant" because more than two and a half years have passed since the closing of the voter list, which, according to the Democrats, led to the extension of the mandates of the members of the Šavnica parliament "significantly" after the expiration of the legally prescribed deadline.
The elections at polling station number 1 - “Šavnik” and polling station number 14 - “Kruševice” were repeated several times, but were never fully conducted due to numerous obstructions and irregularities. They began in October 2022.
The re-election procedure at a polling station where the election results were annulled will, as stated in the proposal that "Vijesti" had access to, be regulated by a new article of the law - 20a, according to which only voters registered in the extract from the closed voter list for that polling station can vote in the re-election.
"The exception is voters who, from the day the voter list was closed until the day the repeat elections were held, deregistered their residence in the municipality where the council elections are being held, or the competent state administration body issued them a final decision to deregister their residence in that municipality," the document states.
The amendments propose that in the event that voters deregister their residence in the municipality where local elections are held, the competent state administration body shall submit a list of such persons to the polling station committee for that polling station no later than 24 hours before the day of the repeat elections.
"The president of the polling station committee is obliged to enter data on persons whose residence in the municipality has ceased in the minutes of the work of the polling station committee," the proposed amendments state.
It is explained that they were proposed to ensure the legality of the electoral process, "especially after cases of abuse such as fictitious registration of residence, which led to problems in some local elections."
"These changes aim to ensure that only voters with real residences in the appropriate municipality can participate in the repeat elections, thereby attempting to stabilize the electoral process and restore citizens' trust in the regularity of the elections," the Democrats say.
The elections in Šavnik began on October 23, 2022, when they were held in 13 more municipalities, but have not yet ended because members of the polling stations from the opposition coalition "For the Future of Šavnik", led by the former Democratic Front, did not allow some newly registered voters to vote because, they claim, they were copied to support the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
At two polling stations, in the Municipality building and in the village of Kruševice, where 541 voters are eligible to vote, voting took place nine times, the last time on December 18, 2022, when the elections were again interrupted, after which the local Municipal Election Commission (MEC) could not agree on repeating them. So far, dozens of people have been prosecuted before the judicial authorities for events related to the elections in Šavnik, which included numerous incidents, including physical clashes.
The explanation of the amendments to the law proposed by the Democrats states that on November 6, 2020, the Constitutional Court issued a decision repealing part of the legal provision according to which a voter had to have resided in the municipality for at least six months before election day in order to vote or be elected as a councilor.
This decision, it is alleged, has opened the door to the emergence of fictitious registration of residence in municipalities where local elections are held, with the aim of illegally acquiring the right to vote. It is emphasized that the problem has particularly escalated ahead of the local elections scheduled for October 23, 2022, “especially in the Municipality of Šavnik, where it has led to serious doubts about the legality of the electoral process and the blockade of its implementation.”
They note that in the meantime, according to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 119 voters from the "Šavnik" polling station and 34 voters from the "Kruševice" polling station have deregistered their residence in the municipality, registered in other municipalities and are exercising their right to vote there, although they are still formally registered in the voter list for the elections in Šavnik.
It is explained that, according to the Law on Voters' Register, a voter can only be registered at one polling station, in accordance with their place of residence, and that the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives stipulates that a person who has resided in Montenegro for at least two years and resides in a specific municipality has the right to vote.
Accordingly, according to the document that "Vijesti" had access to, a voter loses the right to vote and be elected as a councilor if their residence in the municipality in which the elections were called ceases.
The proposed amendments also state that the fact that the elections for councilors of the Šavnik Municipal Assembly, scheduled for October 23, 2022, have not yet been held, imposes the need to adopt the proposed law as a matter of urgency.
"The entry into force of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Local Self-Government on the day following its publication in the Official Gazette of Montenegro arises from the need to ensure the implementation of the proposed legal solutions without further delay, in order to improve and ensure the smooth functioning of the local self-government system," it was announced.
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