The political situation in Kotor has become complicated due to the inconsistency of two articles of the same law, which shows that the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) is right in claiming that the local parliament, constituted at the end of December, should have elected the president of that municipality - and the first man of Kotor - within a month. Vladimir Jokic (Democrats) who says that none of the conditions have been met for a vote on it again.
Lawyers with whom "Vijesti" spoke state that a legal tangle has arisen in Kotor and that it is true that Jokić, who was re-elected to office almost a year ago, has a four-year term, but that it is also true that the mayor is elected no later than 30 days after the constitution of the Municipal Assembly (MA). All of this is prescribed by the Law on Local Self-Government in Articles 55 and 56.
According to Article 55, the mayor is elected for a four-year term, while Article 56 stipulates that he or she shall be elected no later than 30 days after the municipal assembly is constituted, and that, if this does not happen, the local parliament, upon the proposal of the Government or a third of the councilors, shall make a decision to shorten his or her term.
Jokić was elected as the leader of Kotor by the old convocation of the Municipal Assembly on March 6th last year, due to the blockade of local self-government that followed the unfinished election process. After resolving constitutional complaints and announcing the results of the local elections, the new convocation of the Kotor Parliament was constituted on December 23rd, 2025.
A lawyer with whom "Vijesti" spoke unofficially said that, if Article 55 is taken into account, Jokić can be the mayor even after the general local elections in June 2027, because his mandate is still in effect.
Lawyer Damir Suljević believes that the legal gap has led to different interpretations, because the regulation on local self-government should have explicitly limited the mandate of the mayor to the mandate of the municipal council. In this way, as he said, the legal gap is filled and the answer to this question is provided by the legally prescribed obligation of the municipal council to elect the mayor within 30 days of its constitution, so it is clear that this should have been the case here as well.
According to him, a serious oversight was made in Kotor, because, he claims, the Municipal Assembly had to re-elect Jokić as mayor after its constitution.
He recalls that Jokić was elected by the previous convocation of the Municipal Assembly last year, at a time when the election process in Kotor had not yet been formally completed due to appeals being filed before the Constitutional Court, which, as he states, "was not in accordance with the law, but was a necessary solution at the time."
In the meantime, he added, the Kotor elections have formally ended because the Constitutional Court has ruled on the election appeals, the final election results have been determined, and a new parliamentary convocation has been constituted, which has created the prerequisites for Jokić to be elected in accordance with the law.
DPS is the president of the Kotor parliament The Batuti Warrior submitted an initiative at the end of January to shorten the mandate of the Municipal Assembly, requesting that the session be scheduled by February 6. The initiative was signed by 11 councilors from the DPS, the European Union and the Croatian Civic Initiative, with the assessment that Jokić does not have a majority and is "usurping the function", which, as they say, is also confirmed by the lack of a public debate on the 2026 budget. They base the request for the dissolution of the Municipal Assembly on Article 56 of the Law on Local Self-Government.
The municipal council session is scheduled for Friday, February 6, and according to unofficial information from "Vijesti", the DPS initiative will be rejected because 18 councilors support Jokić.
He responded to DPS at the end of January that law is a science that is studied, "not a random stabbing of articles of the law for meaningless announcements and initiatives." As he said, in order for a municipal president to be elected, the term for which he was elected must first either expire, or his term must be terminated by force of law, or the assembly must dismiss him.
"None of these conditions have occurred, so in this regard it is neither possible nor necessary to elect a mayor," Jokić pointed out.
He recommended that the opposition submit an initiative to parliament to dismiss the mayor or shorten the mandate of the municipal council "if they can find 17 votes for it."
"Since both they and I know that there is no theoretical chance of such an outcome, for their own sake and their dignity, I kindly ask them to get serious and be a real agile opposition. The way they are doing things now is not good for anyone - neither for them nor for us," said Jokić.
The Ministry has launched supervision
DPS requested the Ministry of Public Administration to urgently conduct an inspection of the legality of the work of local self-government bodies, in order to unequivocally determine whether the election of the President of the Municipality of Kotor was carried out in accordance with the applicable legal framework.
The DPS announced on Tuesday that the Ministry, by not speaking out "despite the seriousness of the situation and its far-reaching consequences for the functioning of local self-government", is further deepening the institutional crisis in the Municipality of Kotor.
The department said yesterday that, as in all similar cases so far, they reacted without delay and initiated a supervision procedure.
"After the procedure is completed, the public will be informed of its outcome in a timely manner, and the competent authorities will receive official notifications in the specific case," they said.
"The rulings say that the president cannot be elected before the end of his term"
Jokić told "Vijesti" yesterday that there are rulings of the Supreme and Administrative Courts from 2024 and 2022, which clearly state that the mayor cannot be elected before the expiration of the previous term.
He recalled that the verdicts relate to the case of Ivan Vuković (DPS), who was re-elected as Mayor of Podgorica on July 5, 2022, before the end of his term.
The Administrative Court, then the Supreme Court, annulled the decision of the Capital City Assembly to elect Vuković following a lawsuit filed by the Democrats.
"The Administrative Court correctly finds that a prerequisite for the election of the mayor is the termination of the mayor's term in one of the legally prescribed ways, in order for a new election to be held," the Supreme Court ruling states.
Vuković was first elected as Mayor of Podgorica on July 31, 2018, meaning his four-year term expired on July 31, 2022.
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