The Kotor Municipal Assembly (MA) should make a decision to shorten its mandate, the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) has assessed.
In its administrative supervision findings over the implementation of Article 56 of the Law on Local Self-Government, the MPA indicated that the Municipality of Kotor was obliged to elect the Mayor no later than 30 days from the constitution of the newly elected Municipal Assembly.
According to Article 56 of the Law on Local Self-Government, the mayor of the municipality is elected no later than 30 days after the constitution of the municipal assembly, and if this does not happen, the local parliament, upon the proposal of the Government or a third of the councilors, makes a decision to shorten his or her mandate.
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The initiative to shorten the mandate of the Kotor Municipal Assembly, submitted by the opposition, was not adopted on Friday at the session of the local parliament. There was not enough support for the initiative, i.e. the proposal was rejected with 19 votes against. The President of the Municipality of Kotor, Vladimir Jokić, was elected by the old convocation of the Municipal Assembly on March 6 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 23, 2025.
The opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) claims that the local parliament should have elected the mayor of the municipality within a month, while the mayor of Kotor, Vladimir Jokić (Democrats), says that none of the conditions have been met for a new vote on the matter.
Lawyers with whom "Vijesti" spoke said last week that a legal tangle had 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 (according to Article 55 of the Law on Local Self-Government), but that it is also true that the mayor is elected no later than 30 days after the constitution of the Municipal Assembly.
The MPA's findings, which "Vijesti" has access to, state that the election of the Mayor of the Municipality is essentially linked to the mandate and legitimacy of the current Assembly, and that the obligation to hold elections within 30 days is imperative. They state that accepting the opposite interpretation would open the door to serious and systemic abuses that would lead to the collapse of the constitutional concept of local self-government.
"This would allow the same assembly, using the formal expiration or interruption of mandates, to de facto control the executive branch for a period significantly longer than four years, depriving the newly elected assembly of its essential right to elect the mayor and exercise political control over him," reads the finding submitted to the president of the Kotor Municipal Assembly and councilors.
Such an outcome, it is added, would mean the recognition of a government that does not stem from the current electoral will of the citizens, which would directly violate Article 2 of the Constitution of Montenegro.
"The application of the principle of proportionality further confirms the justification of this interpretation. The obligation for the newly elected assembly to elect the mayor has a legitimate goal - preserving the democratic legitimacy and accountability of the executive body, represents a suitable and necessary measure for achieving that goal and does not lead to a disproportionate infringement of the rights of individuals, but serves to protect the constitutional order and basic democratic principles," the MPA's finding states.
The department stated that, taking into account the above, it is an unequivocal conclusion that the newly elected Municipal Assembly has a constitutional and legal obligation to elect the Mayor within 30 days of its constitution, regardless of the fact that the previous assembly, whose mandate has expired or which acted outside the regular four-year mandate, elected the Mayor for a period of four years.
"Any contrary interpretation represents a violation of the Constitution, a denial of the electoral will of citizens, and the collapse of the local self-government system based on democratic accountability," the MPA said.
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