The adoption of important normative solutions in July did not complete the electoral reform, so political and social consensus will be needed for the reforms that follow, which concern, among other things, the regulation of the register of permanent residence and temporary residence, the cleaning of the voter list, and amendments to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives.
This was announced during the second day of the meeting of the European Union (EU)-Montenegro Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) Parliamentary Committee, which is being held in the Montenegrin Parliament.
The Chairman of the Electoral Reform Committee and Europe Now (PES) MP Vasilije Čarapić said that electoral reform is an important segment on the path to EU accession.
He recalled that at the last POSP session in April, when he spoke about electoral reform, he highlighted several goals - professionalization of the State Election Commission (SEC), transparent financing of election campaigns, and holding all local elections on one day.
"From April to July, we met all our goals and in this way, PES showed what our identity card is - and that is the maximum capacity to solve the largest national challenges through the power of consensus," said Čarapić.
He recalled that the legal amendments defined that all local elections would be held on June 13, 2027, emphasizing that a compromise had been reached between the government and the opposition.
Čarapić pointed out that the SEC has been transformed into the Central Election Commission and that all members will be depoliticized and professionalized, that the Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns has been adopted and is aligned with the ODIHR recommendations, but that there is still room for improvement.
He said that they managed to raise the quota for women's representation on electoral lists from 30 to 40 percent, and that some electoral practices will be criminalized through amendments to the Criminal Code.
Čarapić said that the result was the need for cooperation between the government and the opposition, which was not easy to ensure, but that it proves the constructiveness of PES's policy.
"The Montenegrin Parliament is sending a strong message to the EU that we are ready to implement the most difficult reforms quickly, with the support of an overwhelming majority," said Čarapić.
He said that, in addition to political, social consensus is also needed for the reforms that are to come, which concern the regulation of the register of permanent residence and temporary residence, the cleaning of the voter list, amendments to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives, the representation of minority groups in parliament, as well as the law on political parties and the election of the president, which have not been amended since the 90s.
Independent MP Radinka Ćinćur said that it was a good solution that all local elections would be held in one day and that MPs were at least declaratively in favor of a professional election commission.
"It remains to be seen how our colleagues will appreciate this professionalism. I hope it will not be like in the case of the election of judges of the Constitutional Court. And I hope that we will not have another precedent like the case with Šavnik, and now Kotor," said Ćinćur.
She said that it was good that a quota of 40 percent women on electoral lists had been introduced, but that she was not sure that this concession was sincere.
"I fear that my colleagues will be discriminated against if they do not listen to the voice of their leaders, just as two independent MPs in this convocation have been discriminated against, who still do not have the funds to work like other MPs, despite the public promise that this will be resolved with the new Law on Financing of Political Entities," Ćinćur stated.
According to her, what is adopted under pressure from the European Commission is very often not implemented honestly, and loopholes are sought in the laws in order to punish dissenters.
Ćinćur said that further reform of the electoral system is therefore needed in terms of introducing open lists and preferential voting, so that in the future citizens do not only vote for parties run by leaders, but also fight individually for candidates from the list.
"We have such solutions in the region, we just need to rewrite them. That way we would gain more responsibility for what was said and promised, parties would fight for more influential people in their ranks, and in a time of general irresponsibility this would be a true reform, it would open the way to the professionalization of public administration and accelerate our European path," said Ćinćur.
MEP Sunčana Glavak said that it is good that the elections are held on one day throughout the country, but that the method of selecting the quota of women on electoral lists remains a problem.
"The problem is that women, if they are members of a party, still depend on the party leader whether they will have a chance to enter parliament and be able to use their mandate, or whether they will just be an ornament on the list to meet the electoral quota," Glavak said.
She said that it was good that the financing of election campaigns would be more transparent and that the election commission would be professionalized, assessing that this was a step towards greater democracy, transparency, and a better status on the European path.
Glavak added that there are still uncertainties in the way some provisions will be implemented, and that she hopes this will be improved.
Social Democrat MP Boris Mugoša said that all MPs participated together in adopting normative solutions regarding electoral reform and pointed out that a part of the government, which had been against the solutions for many years, decided to vote for them.
He said that these are not epochal matters, noting that the working group in the Draft Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives back in 2019 defined the professionalization of the SEC, a higher quota for women, but that there was no will to adopt it at the time.
Mugoša pointed out that an agreement was reached to hold local elections in one day, but that the talk about elections at the national level was not part of the electoral reform, that is, that the date of the parliamentary elections is 2027, but that the date depends on the decision of the President of Montenegro, who has the right and obligation under the Constitution to determine it.
As he said, a normative step forward has been made, but the essence lies in the implementation of the law.
"This is just part of the electoral reforms. There is still a lot to be done to strengthen citizens' trust in the electoral process and to enter the next elections with hope and faith that the results will adequately demonstrate the will of the citizens, because we are witnesses to the misuse of state resources for electoral purposes," said Mugoša.
According to him, there is a huge amount of work ahead regarding the voter list, the register of permanent and temporary residence, the necessary opening of electoral lists, solutions related to persons with disabilities, and improving solutions in the area of media representation in the election campaign.
The co-chair of the POSP on behalf of the EP, Thomas Weitz, said that in EU member states there are various systems regarding open lists, but that the most important thing is that the rules are transparent, that there is independent oversight, and that citizens must have trust.
Speaking about the financing of political parties, Weiss said that accepting small donations from citizens, which are transparently announced, is not problematic.
"But if it's a larger donation from some entities that may have an interest, I think it's better not to accept such a donation to prevent the possibility of being compromised, or of being portrayed as compromised even though you are not," Weitz said.
When it comes to foreign donations, Weitz believes that they should not be accepted because, as he said, the democratic interest of citizens should be a priority.
Bonus video:
