The session of the Pljevlja Municipal Assembly (MA) was postponed again this morning due to a lack of quorum. 13 councilors, out of 23 members of the ruling majority, showed up in the hall, so the Speaker of the Parliament Jovana Tošić was forced to adjourn the session.
Tošić said that a new date for the continuation of the session would be set in the coming days, but did not specify when.
Six councilors from New Serbian Democracy did not attend the session: Marko Potparić, who is also the head of the club, Slobodan Radović, Marko Gačević, Borisa Kankaraš, Vujo Grbović and Ana Jović; as well as councilors from the Europe Now Movement Radoman Andeslić and Tamara Rosić; Božidar Bajić from the Movement for Pljevlja; Tatjana Šarančić from the Democratic People's Party and independent councilor Dejana Petrić.
Thanks to the presence of councilors from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Bosniak Party (BS) and independent councilor Saša Ječmenica, at the beginning of the session, the councilors adopted an amendment to the agenda with the Initiative on resolving the legal property and financial status of SC "Ada", with conclusions, as well as the initiative of the Mayor of the Municipality on the proposal for a decision on the amendment to the decision on the transfer of the right of use of real estate over which the Municipality of Pljevlja has the right to dispose, the limited liability company "Komunalne usluge" Pljevlja.
After the vote, they left the session, leaving the local parliament without a quorum.
The head of the DPS councilors' club, Marko Tošić, before leaving the hall with his colleagues, said that for the third time in a row they were in an identical situation because some councilors from the ruling majority were not coming to the sessions of the local parliament.
"This is an unprecedented situation since the multi-parliamentary system was introduced in Montenegro. We have not had such scenes here in Pljevlja, not even during the SNP government, let alone during the DPS government. Therefore, Speaker of Parliament, in the future, when you arrange the continuation of the session and schedule it, try to ensure the presence of the ruling majority at the session, because this is the third time in a row that you are harassing councilors who leave their jobs and come here to discuss numerous items on the agenda for the citizens. You are also harassing media representatives as well as employees in the local administration, that is, representatives of the proposers, who respond to the invitation and come to the session every time," said Tošić.
He reiterated that the key reason for not holding the Pljevlja Municipal Assembly session was the DPS initiative to remove the Mayor of the Municipality, Dario Vranes.
"This initiative caused a conflict among some of the councilors of the ruling majority, because some of the councilors of the ruling majority under the control of Milan Lekić no longer want Dario Vraneš as the Mayor, while the other part of the councilors of the ruling majority between Milan Lekić and Dario Vraneš elect Dario Vraneš. I don't know what else needs to happen for the councilors of the civic parties PES and Democrats to sign our initiative to remove Vraneš. We will not participate in your conflicts and intra-coalition relations. When you gather, we will come and discuss all the items on the agenda, but we really will not participate and help you and resolve your intra-coalition relations through us. When you do not want anything to do with the Democratic Party of Socialists, we will not be of any help to you in all this. When you ensure the presence of councilors at the session, we will return," said Tošić.
The President of the Assembly responded that she is not harassing anyone, but is doing her job and, like the other 33 councilors, has a responsibility to the citizens of Pljevlja.
"Regarding your stance that you won't do anything with us, we won't do anything with you either, that's why we're here, and these colleagues who don't come to the session, that's questionable," said Tošić.
Independent councilor Saša Ječmenica said that the absurd situation continues.
"The citizens of Pljevlja need to know who the government councilors are and who the opposition councilors are. Everyone is somewhat divided. Obviously, there has been a division within the ruling majority, who is for Lekić, who is for Vraneš, who is for the student, who is for Vučić, who is a postpaid Serb, who is a prepaid Serb, who is an iPhone, who is a Samsung... I think that the citizens of Pljevlja do not deserve this and that you, the President of the Assembly and the President of the Municipality, are the most responsible for solving this problem because it is obvious that we have reached a stalemate that this group of Savniks can only remove the Mayor with the help of DPS councilors, or that you approach the DPS and open some kind of coalition arrangement for them because we are stuck, it seems, at three-thirds in this parliament and no changes can be made towards resolving this crisis, no matter when we schedule the session again. I think it is time for us all to get a little more serious because the citizens gave us mandates to exercise power responsibly or to criticize them," said Ječmenica.
He called on citizens to make it clear to the ruling majority, in some informal way, to get a little more serious.
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