A set of electoral laws may represent the beginning of real reform, but for these changes to yield concrete results, continued work in this area is necessary. This process cannot be considered complete until problems, such as the voter register, are resolved in accordance with international standards, with mechanisms in place to prevent any abuse.
Thus, the President of the State Election Commission (SEC) Nikola Mugoša comments for "Vijesti" on the amendments to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives adopted at the end of July, which are the result of the work of the Parliamentary Committee for Electoral Reform, and which government representatives called, among other things, historic.
By agreement between the government and the opposition, it was decided that all local elections would be held on the same day in 2027, that the SEC would be "freed from party members" and professionalized, and that 40 percent of the electoral lists would include women.
The amendments to the law "postponed" all local elections that were supposed to be held before 2027, i.e. the mandate of the authorities in these local governments was extended. By the end of the year, people were supposed to go to the polls in Cetinje, Mojkovac and Petnjica, and next year in Tivat, Plužine, Žabljak, Bijelo Polje, Šavnik, Bar, Danilovgrad, Kolašin, Pljevlja, Zeta, Plav and Rožaje...
Mugoša told the newspaper that, after years of failed attempts, there has finally been progress on the issue of electoral reform, which international partners have assessed as an important item in the process of Montenegro's accession to the European Union (EU), and that the previous lack of concrete results has justifiably called into question the existence of the political will to make changes. He states that in addition to certain solutions "that have the potential to improve the electoral environment", this process has demonstrated that a political agreement on changes to electoral legislation is still possible, after a stalemate that has lasted since 2016.
However, he notes that the political agreement also implied a limitation on the scope of the reform in the first phase.
"The consolidation of elections into one day, the depoliticization and professionalization of the SEC, and the increase in gender quotas represent an important first step. However, in order for the adopted changes to be applicable in practice and bring concrete benefits to citizens, this process needs to continue from September. The process so far can be seen as a good initial impulse, but it is clear that we are still far from comprehensive electoral reform," Mugoša argues.
According to him, serious work lies ahead to implement numerous outstanding recommendations of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and eliminate systemic shortcomings and legal inconsistencies that continue to undermine the integrity of the electoral process.
Phased solution is a risk
The highest legislative chamber voted to amend several other election regulations (laws on local self-government and financing of political entities and election campaigns), and the head of state Jakov Milatovic He proclaimed them, saying that the Committee should continue its work even more intensively and take "key steps to make electoral reform, which is not complete after these legal changes, comprehensive."
The Minister of Public Administration gave a similar assessment of the adopted amendments. Marash Dukaj (Albanian Alternative), stating that the opportunity to implement "a fundamental comprehensive reform has not been used to the necessary extent", that this process cannot be complete without the regulation of the voter register, and that citizens are being deprived of key rights. In the spring, Dukaj sent the Committee a draft law on local elections that envisaged the direct election of municipal leaders, the depoliticization of local election commissions, elections in one day...
Unlike the two of them, the Prime Minister Milojko Spajic (Europe Now Movement) claims that this is a “historic success”.
The head of his party's parliamentary group and co-chair of the Committee Vasilije Carapić He said that the adoption of a set of regulations created a key prerequisite "for civic politics to prevail". He added that the 2027 parliamentary elections will be held on the same day as the local elections (June 13), although there is no word on this in the "new" law, while the opposition claims that the elections will not be held "as a package", saying that the electoral reform is "a great victory for the opposition in every society".
However, the question arises whether such changes can even be called a reform, given that some of the key decisions that have been talked about for years have not been adopted - "cleaning" the voter register, open lists, direct election of the mayor, ending the elections in Šavnik that have lasted almost three years...
Mugoša points out that "all reports" of international organizations that monitored the elections in Montenegro emphasized that the reform of electoral legislation should be comprehensive and inclusive.
"The Committee itself contains the term 'comprehensive' in its name. The decision to implement the amendment to the electoral legislation in phases can be understood as a concession to political consensus, but it carries the risk of leaving important issues unresolved," he said.
He adds that an example that illustrates why comprehensive electoral reform is necessary is the new authority of the future Central Election Commission (CEC) to conduct training for polling station committees and issue certificates of completed training.
"However, the appointment and functioning of polling stations committees was not subject to changes in the law, so having a certificate is not a requirement for membership in them. This calls into question the application of the new authority of the CEC, unless the provisions relating to the conditions for participation in polling stations committees are changed," the source explains.
Reformed institution - higher expectations
The head of the SEC said that another important issue remained unregulated, and it relates to the conditions under which the election commission can decide on a repeat election at a polling station, emphasizing that the current solution contains a number of strictly formal reasons for such a decision, which, he claims, political entities have often used for post-election manipulations and attempts to overturn voting results.
It states that, although the electoral process must be based on clearly defined rules, "excessive formality must not suppress the essence of the law", and that such a solution is contrary to the ODIHR recommendation that the law should prescribe "clear and objective criteria for annulling elections only in the case of significant violations".
"If this issue is not included in the next phases of the reform, the new institution will continue to be bound by a legal framework that is not aligned with modern international electoral standards. In this way, regardless of the different composition and method of election, the CEC would be trapped in the same legal mantras that do not allow it to undergo a fundamental transformation," Mugoša states.
He said that the public will rightly have higher expectations from the reformed institution.
"Because reforms are being implemented for the sake of citizens, and those expectations can be disappointed if the institution remains limited by poor legal solutions," he says.
Committee to deal with the list
Mugoša states that it is "absolutely clear" that without a regulated voter register, electoral reform cannot be considered complete. He emphasizes that this issue is particularly complex, because it cannot be resolved through normative changes alone.
"The working group had a deadline of only one month and a clearly defined task to deal exclusively with unifying elections, professionalizing election administration, and gender quotas in the first phase of electoral reform - topics on which a political consensus had previously been reached," he said.
The interviewee notes that after the last population census at the end of 2023, it became clear to the general public the significance and scope of the problem with the voter register.
"In a country with a population of 630.000, it is unsustainable to have over 540 voters registered on the electoral roll, especially considering the number of minors and foreigners. The electoral roll is formed based on data from the residence register, the register of Montenegrin citizens and the civil registers of births and deaths. The lack of up-to-dateness of the residence register directly affects the accuracy of the electoral roll, as it often includes Montenegrin citizens who formally have a residence permit but do not actually live in Montenegro," explains Mugoša.
He notes that reports from international organizations that monitored the elections in Montenegro state that part of the problem can be solved by field verification of data. However, Mugoša says that this field verification must be inclusive and include institutions, political entities and civil society organizations, and that it is crucial that this process is carried out in accordance with “the highest international standards, with mechanisms that will prevent abuses or unjustified deletion of any voter.”
"The committee should continue to seriously address this issue and define mechanisms that will lead to an up-to-date voter list and thus contribute to establishing public trust in its accuracy," said the SEC chairman.
Unresolved issues
Mugoša states that his impression is that, despite the publicly expressed support of several political entities, there is no political consensus on the introduction of open electoral lists and the direct election of municipal presidents.
"I have repeatedly emphasized the advantages of the open electoral list system and its effect on suppressing partitocracy and affirming greater citizen influence in shaping public policies," he said, adding that numerous issues must be subject to reform in order for it to truly lead to an improvement in the electoral environment.
He emphasizes that the protection of voting rights remains one of the most important, yet unresolved, issues that require attention.
"According to the current provisions, an objection can only be filed against a decision by which the objection was rejected or dismissed at a lower instance, which means that decisions by which objections were accepted - even if they are clearly unlawful - cannot be reviewed. In accordance with international standards and in order to ensure an effective legal remedy, it is necessary to enable judicial review of all decisions of election commissions," Mugoša said.
In addition, the interlocutor points out, it is necessary to prescribe by law a clear deadline within which the Constitutional Court is obliged to decide on election disputes.
"In the previous period, despite the need for urgent action, the Constitutional Court did not always act in accordance with this principle. There was also a lack of opportunity for parties to be heard and to present arguments, and decisions were not always published within a reasonable time. Given that the process of amending the Law on the Constitutional Court is underway, this is an opportunity to simultaneously contribute to electoral reform by improving the protection of voting rights," he said.
It also claims that the criteria for declaring minority lists, the rules for collecting signatures of support, the number of signatures required and sanctions for their misuse require additional clarification and harmonization, and that it is necessary to regulate the rules for conducting the second round of presidential elections, as well as to ensure clearly defined rights of observers in all phases of the electoral process. It also states that amendments and modernization of the provisions relating to the presentation of electoral lists in the media during the campaign - including the "retrograde" current solution according to which the parliamentary committee decides on complaints about media reporting.
Progressive solutions
The head of the SEC assesses that the new legal solutions relating to the method of electing CEC members are "very progressive" compared to the previous model.
He explains that it is envisaged that the president and members of the CEC will be proposed by a body composed of one representative each from the government and the opposition, as well as one representative each from the University of Montenegro, non-governmental organizations dealing with elections, and the Association of Judges.
"This body proposes a single list of candidates for CEC members, which must be supported by at least four out of five members, and the competent committee decides on the list as a whole. This establishes a mechanism that prevents unilateral decision-making and encourages the achievement of a broad consensus," the source said.
The adopted amendments envisage the transformation of the SEC into the CEC, whose members, who will not be able to be in parties, would be elected by parliament after a public competition.
Mugoša also notes that the conditions for the election of CEC members have been tightened.
"In addition to general requirements such as education and years of experience, special criteria have been introduced relating to additional qualifications in the field of elections, experience in observation missions and working groups on the topic of the electoral process, public recognition in this field, and published scientific and professional works. This has introduced objective criteria that base the selection process on references, which should guarantee selection on merit," he states.
He points out that the amendments stipulate that the election process will be initiated within 60 days of the law coming into force, and that this process will be the first test of whether the new legal solutions really ensure the election of the best candidates and whether political actors are ready to give up the "practice of appointing party representatives to the body that decides on their interests in the election process."
He says that, although protective mechanisms have been introduced to guarantee the independence and expertise of selected candidates, experience in attempts to depoliticize institutions shows that political compromises often lead to solutions that do not fully reflect the principle of selecting the best candidates.
"The election of the CEC will be a test of whether there is real political will to free this institution from politics and become a guardian of electoral integrity that will effectively ensure the legality of the electoral process," Mugoša concluded.
Conditions for PWDs: a question of basic dignity
Nikola Mugoša notes that, in the final, “but one of the most important issues,” the Committee needs to improve the conditions for the participation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the electoral process, especially when it comes to the accessibility of polling stations.
"Apart from the fact that this is a matter of basic human dignity, it is unacceptable that in a country that is a candidate for EU membership, one category of citizens cannot independently exercise one of their basic human rights," he said.
Gender quotas are an important step, prohibit parties from bypassing them
Nikola Mugoša notes that increasing the gender quota is an important step, but that this item will only reach its full potential with changes to the provisions on filling mandates, which, according to him, currently allow parties to circumvent quotas by having female candidates withdraw - after which the mandate is awarded to the next candidate, instead of the next woman.
"Although the current provision stipulates a 30 percent representation of women on lists, we currently have only 28 percent of female MPs in the Parliament, while at the beginning of this term that percentage was slightly above 20 percent," he said.
He stated that this indicates that in the continuation of the reform, it is necessary to develop additional mechanisms that will provide a guarantee that the representation of women in parliament is truly 40 percent.
"Because the result of this reform should be more women in parliament, not just on the lists," said Mugoša, adding that this is just one example of why the continuation of the reform is necessary and how a partial approach can prevent the implementation of already adopted solutions.
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