Candidates are collateral damage of political trade: Party interest prevailed, Constitutional Court judges were not elected

The fact that the Parliament did not elect the missing Constitutional Court judges last night was expected, the candidates are collateral damage of political trade, and the citizens did not deserve to pay for the omissions again, assessed the interlocutors of "Vijesti".

MPs voted for candidates for the Constitutional Committee - Deputy Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms Mirjana Radović and a judge of the Higher Court in Podgorica Jovan JovanovicPresident of the country Jakov Milatovic proposed a lawyer for the position of judge of the Constitutional Court Mirjana VučinićNone of them received the required two-thirds support of MPs.

16 opposition MPs (Democratic Party of Socialists and Social Democrats) and independent MPs Jevrosima Pejović and Radinka Ćinćur voted for Vučinić, while 44 government representatives abstained. MPs from the URA did not participate in the vote for judges. Some government MPs objected to Vučinić being a lawyer for “Bemaks”.

Jovanović's election was supported by 45 members of the majority, while 1 was against. Admir Adrović from the Bosniak Party (BS), while five of his party colleagues abstained.

For Radović, who was criticized by some for not having a bar exam, 44 majority MPs voted, one was against (Adrović), and five abstained (BS).

According to the Constitution, the election of judges of the Constitutional Court requires a two-thirds majority in the Assembly, or 54 votes, and if this is not achieved, a second round is held, in which the election requires the support of three-fifths of the deputies (49). Given that the candidates did not receive the required majority in the first round, the second round will be held in a month at the earliest.

Executive Director of Human Rights Action (HRA) Tea Gorjanc Prelevic She told "Vijesti" that it was neglected to contribute to the general interest and elect judges, "although everyone knows very well that neither grade point average, nor a passed bar exam, nor experience in state administration, nor belonging to a minority are requirements for the election of a judge of the Constitutional Court."

He believes that it would have been better if the president had communicated with the parliamentary groups in a timely manner, if the deputies on the Constitutional Committee had openly discussed what they had against which candidate, but the citizens certainly did not deserve to pay for all these omissions again by having electoral disputes not resolved for the time being (three years for the elections in Šavnik, two years for the elections in Kotor), numerous initiatives for the assessment of constitutionality, numerous constitutional appeals for which there is no consensus.

Civic activist Dina Bajramspahić He believes that it is a pity that the first opportunity to elect three judges to the Constitutional Court was missed, but this was expected given the poorly managed processes.

She told "Vijesti" that, when it comes to candidates proposed by the Constitutional Committee, members of the state parliament were treated only as "hand raisers".

"They are expected to 'verify' the political agreement reached in advance by individual party entities by pressing a button and not to ask unnecessary questions, even though that is their job. There was absolutely no quality discussion of the candidates, and the MPs were presented with a ready-made list, on a 'take it or leave it' basis," she said.

Such an approach, she added, was doomed to failure and that could easily have been assumed.

"The risk and nonchalance of the political majority did not pay off, but I doubt that anyone will take responsibility for the poor leadership," said Bajramspahić.

She believes that it is impossible to convince the opposition to vote motivated by public interest, when the ruling majority refuses to vote for the candidate proposed by the president under the Constitution, even though the identical public interest is at stake.

"This has deprived the authorities of the 'blackmail potential' with which they tried to pressure the opposition and their coalition partners. Unfortunately, the candidates are collateral damage of political commerce, and the parties' lack of seriousness further undermines trust in the Constitutional Court," she warned.

Milatović: Introduction to the complete collapse of the system

At the beginning of the debate, the President of the state said that the election of judges to the Constitutional Court must not be the result of political bargaining, and warned that if none of the three proposed candidates were elected, it would be a prelude to the complete collapse of the system.

The Constitutional Court currently has four out of the seven judges that the institution should have. The Constitutional Committee published a notice for the election of two judges on December 23 last year and heard all the candidates in mid-March, but nominated them last week. In the meantime, the head of state has published a new notice for the election of one judge, because the judge Desanka Lopičić His term expires at the end of the year.

At Milatović's request, an extraordinary session of the Parliament was scheduled for September 15th, at which the deputies were supposed to vote on his candidate. However, the agenda was not adopted.

Opposition MPs have also warned of a possible blockade of the Constitutional Court if new judges are not elected, because at least four judges are required to vote in order for that institution to make decisions.

The Bosniak Party, which is part of the ruling majority, reiterated that it would not support the candidates because the Constitution was not respected in the part that required the proportional representation of members of minority nations to be taken into account.

BS requested that one candidate be a representative of the Bosniak people.

“What happened in Berane and the Czech Republic?”

Leader and MP of DPS Danijel Zivkovic assessed that the narrative is being imposed that judges must be elected "because of the European Commission, or because (Ursula) von der Leyen came", and not because of a real need.

Von der Leyen opened an investment conference with the Prime Minister in Tivat yesterday Milojko Spajić.

"What are we turning into? A neo-colonial society in which Americans, Russians or Europeans need to tell us how we should behave," Živković said.

He said that tomorrow, if someone needs to deal with someone from the parliamentary majority, "the correspondence of a majority MP will be released."

"Do you think we don't know what happened in Berane, in a hotel in the Czech Republic? Do you think we don't know what's happening at a swimming pool in Zeta, where prosecutors come?", pointed out Živković.

Procedure for the election of two judges (successors) Milorad Gogić and Dragana Đuranović) was suspended after the hearing of the candidates at the Constitutional Committee, pending the opinion of the Venice Commission on the case of the former judge. Dragan Đuranović.

The Parliament, based on the conclusion of the Constitutional Committee, declared her to have ceased to hold office at the end of last year because she had attained the conditions for retirement under the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, and not under the Labor Law, under which judges of the Constitutional Court retired. The Venice Commission stated that the Parliament should have followed the procedure that requires formal notification of the Constitutional Court of the attainment of the conditions for the cessation of judicial office.

"If there is no majority in a month, the country is on shaky feet"

Gorjanc Prelević warns that if a majority is not needed to elect judges in a month, the competitions will be repeated and the next deadline for their election will be, for example, March of next year.

"Citizens will continue to suffer, the state is on shaky legs, opponents of Montenegro's EU membership are getting another excellent argument in favor of the fact that it is a frivolous state that is incapable of choosing its own institutions," she warned.