Resistance to the way in which Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić (New Serbian Democracy) manages the institution is growing, but what keeps him in office is that the ruling MPs are held together like superglue by party and personal interests, despite their major differences on numerous issues.
With these words, Vijesti's interlocutors comment on the fact that the first man of the highest legislative house "survived" another vote on dismissal, even though he did not have the support of all government representatives.
Mandić's dismissal was supported by 20 MPs at the session the day before yesterday, while 41 were against. A total of 63 MPs voted (out of 81, the number of MPs in the Assembly), and two ballots were invalid. The vote was secret, and the support of a majority of the total number of MPs present was necessary for Mandić's dismissal.
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18 members of parliament did not attend the vote, and among those absent were representatives of the ruling Bosniak Party (BS) and the Albanian Forum (AF), as well as MPs from the also ruling Europe Now Movement (PES) and the Citizens' Alliance CIVIS, Miodrag Laković and Maja Vučelić.
Among the opposition representatives, the Social Democrats (SD), Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) MPs Drita Lola and Nikola Milović, URA Civic Movement representative Dritan Abazović, Democratic Union of Albanians (DUA) Mehmed Zenka, and independent MP Radinka Ćinćur were absent from the vote.
Disagreements grow as the term progresses
Nikola Mirković, a program associate at the Center for Civic Education (CCE), says that although Mandić has not been replaced, it is still evident that, as his mandate progresses, differences and disagreements within the Government and the parliamentary majority are accumulating. He states that this raises the question: "Can the state pay as much as their growing needs are, and by when?"
Mirković estimates that the vote on dismissal, at least for now, will not seriously affect Mandić's position in the Parliament, nor his influence on the ruling majority, "which he completely controls."
"And the initiators (for the dismissal) knew that they couldn't change much with this, but they apparently wanted to expose some things, and when it comes to minority parties - they succeeded in doing so to a significant extent. Also, it's not that this didn't stir things up within the ruling majority, but I'm afraid it's only to the detriment of public resources, which were once again traded," he said.
Mirković claims that, from the very beginning, the broad composition of the Government has been a very heterogeneous entity, whose opinions, stances and ideologies, he says, differ on numerous, even essential, issues. However, he states that they are "held together like superglue by personal and party interests and the benefits they derive from their positions of office."
The interlocutor adds that relations within the ruling majority are not harmonious, and that the fact that Mandić received fewer votes than when he was elected is one of a series of proofs that, despite their interest in maintaining themselves, they cannot do so at the same level, especially on an issue that is very important for the parliamentary majority.
Mandić was elected as the head of parliament in late October 2023 with the votes of 49 MPs. He also “survived” the vote on his dismissal in early March last year, which was initiated by the DPS. At that time, 27 MPs supported Mandić’s dismissal, while 44 were against it (72 MPs voted in total, one ballot was invalid).
"The BS and AF MPs did not attend the vote, or rather, they avoided deciding on the dismissal. It has been shown, once again, that their positions in power were more important than some principles. We cannot say that such a move by the BS was unexpected, but it is to be expected that they will be punished for it in some upcoming election cycles," Mirković assessed.
He notes that it is clear that Mandić "keeps PES and the Democrats under control" "when it comes to issues important to him", and that it would be interesting to know whether MPs Miodrag Laković and Maja Vučelić support Mandić because they did not attend the vote.
"Given that the opposition was not in its entirety during the vote, this indicates that they had an assessment that Mandić still controlled a sufficient majority in the parliamentary majority," said Mirković.
Vučelić: Responsible to the state, not to games
Asked why she was not in the plenum when the decision was being made, and why, if her absence is a sign that Mandić does not have her support, she did not vote for the dismissal, Maja Vučelić told Vijesti that she did not want to participate in the dismissal because the dismissal was initiated by the opposition for, as she claims, daily political reasons.
She stated that the best evidence of this is the fact that several opposition MPs, who were among the initiators, "did not see fit to appear at the vote." She said that she would certainly not participate in Mandić's defense, because that was not her "political task."
"I was present in the parliament, but I decided not to participate in the vote. My mandate implies responsibility towards the state, not towards daily political games. The President of the Parliament must be a person who respects the Constitution of Montenegro, Independence Day and the institutions of this state, and not someone who continues to play political games from the past that have already regressed and divided our society. My task is to build a European Montenegro, not to be a tool of anyone's revanchist policy," Vučelić emphasizes.
She adds that, in this regard, her position is clear: "Either we will all start respecting the Constitution, European values and institutions, or we will not have a stable state."
PES MP Miodrag Laković did not answer the same questions to Vijesti.
Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and AF MP Nikola Camaj told the newspaper that he was unable to attend the session due to personal obligations, while the chairman of the parliamentary group of that coalition, Artan Čobi, did not respond to the inquiry.
The BS announced the day before yesterday that their MPs did not participate in the "discussion on Mandić's dismissal", without mentioning the vote, because they do not agree to "the double DPS - ZBCG (For the Future of Montenegro)".
"Namely, this is a frivolous and fabricated initiative whose only goal is to collect petty daily political points from the uninventive opposition, which tries to cause political damage to BS on a daily basis," the party's Facebook post reads.
BS MPs voted to dismiss Mandić last year, but they were not part of the government or the parliamentary majority at the time. DPS demanded Mandić's dismissal, among other things, because the head of the Parliament "never provided evidence that he was in legal possession of Montenegrin citizenship."
His position is not unquestionable.
The director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM), Nevenka Vuksanović, believes that the fact that two votes on Mandić's dismissal were launched in a short period of time shows that his position is not unquestionable.
"He has retained the formal support of the majority in parliament, which allows him to continue to serve as president and act in the same spirit. Resistance to his way of running parliament is growing, which could lead to political pressure or changes in his approach if he wants to maintain stability within the majority," she told Vijesti.
When asked how many and what kind of "fouls" Mandić needs to commit in order to be removed, the interviewee replied that his dismissal is not a legally complicated process.
"Essentially, this is a political decision, not a legal punishment for possible 'fouls' in work," she points out, adding that such a decision also implies a political price - "the willingness to disrupt the existing majority and risk the stability of the government," for which, Vuksanović claims, there is currently not enough political maturity.
He assesses that the non-appearance of Laković, Vučelić and representatives of the BS can be seen as "a form of passive political position."
"Whether it was a disagreement within the party or some strategic move. Their absence, in practice, contributed to Mandić's survival in office, which speaks of a pragmatic approach to political balancing, in which preserving the positions gained is more important than principled confrontation," the interviewee notes.
The initiative to dismiss Mandić was submitted by the DPS and SD because, among other things, they hold him responsible for the potential misuse of the parliament's official vehicle on the night when Danilo Mandić, the nephew and informal bodyguard of the first man in the legislative house, allegedly wounded two people in Podgorica.
DPS and SD claim that Mandić is most responsible for undermining the integrity of the Parliament, but also for "abolishing its control role", "implementing nationalist and anti-European policies", and "disrupting the painstakingly built policy of relations with neighbors".
DPS: The majority is going through a crisis of legitimacy
The opposition DPS announced yesterday that the debate on Mandić showed that his support has drastically declined, and that the parliamentary majority as a whole is going through a "serious crisis of legitimacy."
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"... Not even the minority parties that participate with him in the work of the current Government voted for him. It is clear and completely exposed that functions and privileges are the only thing holding together the majority that is actively collapsing institutions and hindering the democratic development of the country," the DPS said.
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