Consultations are underway in the Podgorica government on the election of the vice president of the capital's assembly, but the ruling majority has not yet agreed on the names, nor has it accepted the opposition's proposal to take over that position. Miloš Maskovic (European Union).
While the opposition is demanding the removal of the local parliament speaker Jelena Borovinić Bojović, and the now opposition Democratic People's Party (DNP) has not yet commented on this initiative, while the government claims that there is no reason for compulsory administration and says that the Capital City is functioning regularly.
Head of the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) parliamentary group Mitar Susic He told "Vijesti" that the vice president must be someone who cooperates with the president of the local parliament, "it must be her proposal and must receive the support of the parliamentary majority."
"It is natural that he will receive the support of the majority that constitutes the government. We have not discussed specific names so far, but it can be said that these consultations are ongoing," said Šušić.
According to Article 20 of the Rules of Procedure of the Capital City Assembly, "the Vice President of the Assembly shall be elected and dismissed from among the councilors by the Assembly upon the proposal of the President of the Assembly."
The City Assembly has not had a vice-president since October 7th last year, when a councilor from the Movement for Podgorica resigned from that position. Dragutin Vučinić.
"Vijesti", citing multiple sources, recently announced that Borovinić Bojović could become the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of health, which raises the question of the further functioning of the Capital, given that there is no Deputy Prime Minister who could replace her.
According to the Law on Local Self-Government (Article 49), when the mandate of the Speaker of the Assembly expires, the function of the head of the parliament, until the election of a new one, is performed by the Vice-President. The Assembly of the capital city does not have a Vice-President, and in that case, according to the same article of the law, “the function of the Speaker of the Assembly until the election of a new Speaker of the Assembly shall be performed by a councilor who is from the councilors’ club that has the largest number of councilors”.
The law requires the assembly to elect a speaker of the assembly no later than 30 days after the end of the previous speaker's term, but it does not specify what happens if they do not elect one. However, it is clear that if a speaker of parliament is not elected within 30 days, it would lead to compulsory administration, as the sessions of the assembly would not be able to be scheduled.
Borovinić Bojović was the leader of the list of the coalition "For the Future of Podgorica" (whose backbone was the NSD and DNP) in the early elections in Podgorica in September 2024, as well as in the previous local elections, held in October 2022. She was previously the Minister of Health in the Government Zdravka Krivokapića (2020-2022).
The European Progress Party (SEP) submitted two initiatives to the local Assembly last week - an initiative to dismiss Borovinić Bojović and an opposition initiative proposing that their representative Miloš Mašković be elected Vice President of the Capital City Assembly.
On Wednesday, after a meeting with Borovinić Bojović, the ruling majority said that the initiative to elect Mašković as Deputy Speaker of the Parliament was not acceptable to them.
It was announced at the meeting that a session of the Capital City Assembly will be held within 15 days to consider the initiatives launched by the opposition in the previous period.
Šušić: There are no reasons for introducing compulsory administration
Authorities said that they did not discuss the possible introduction of compulsory administration in Podgorica at the meeting.
Šušić said that there are no reasons for compulsory administration, because the legal grounds for its introduction are known.
He believes that no one in the Capital needs compulsory administration.
"The modality I propose is to avoid all extraordinary scenarios... this administration should focus on completing this mandate in the best possible way and thus earn the trust of citizens. I am not a supporter of political bickering with constant initiatives for removal or shortening the mandate...", he said.
DNP will likely support the removal of Borovinić Bojović
After the scheduled session of the Capital City Assembly, which will include the opposition's initiatives to dismiss Borovinić Bojović and appoint Mašković as her deputy, the DNP will hold a session of the councilors' club and make a decision on all issues on the agenda.
This was told to "Vijesti" by the president of the DNP councilors' club. Vladimir Bulatović, answering the question about whether their councilors will come to the session and how they will express their opinion on the opposition's proposals.
"The session with these agenda items has not yet been scheduled, so for that reason we have not even considered the announced initiatives," said Bulatović.
According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", DNP will probably support the dismissal of Borovinić Bojović, because "she did nothing for the coalition (For the Future of Podgorica) on whose list she was on."
In the event that the DNP votes to dismiss Borovinić Bojović or if she joins the government and the capital's Assembly is left without a president, it is questionable how the ruling coalition in Podgorica would elect the head of parliament (because it no longer has a majority) and whether, if that does not happen, it would be on the path to compulsory administration.
"We know that the city administration desires and is considering all options for how to achieve compulsory administration, because they have lost their majority and want to suspend the Capital City Assembly, abolish the councilors elected by the citizens, and until the 2027 elections, they will autocratically lead the city, which is contrary to the interests of the citizens, but also to the democratic principles they refer to every day," said Bulatović.
In order for Borovinić Bojović to be dismissed, 30 councilors need to vote for it. The NSD, Democrats, Socialist People's Party (SNP) and United Montenegro previously announced that they would not support the initiative. PES and the Movement for Podgorica believe that the initiative will be as unsuccessful as the one to shorten the mandate of the capital's Assembly, while the DPS, the European Alliance and Preokret announced that they would vote for it.
The capital's assembly has 59 councilors. The ruling majority, until the decision of Free Montenegro and DNP to withdraw from it, consisted of 31 councilors: the PES-Democrats alliance has 14 representatives, the parties of the former Democratic Front (of which DNP is a part) with minor partners have 13 councilors, and the Movement for Podgorica, close to the head of state Jakov Milatović, four.
With the exit of Slobodna (one councilor), and then DNP (which has four representatives) from the city government, the ruling coalition "fell" to 26 councilors, and must seek the support of at least four opposition representatives in order to "survive" and have a majority for important decisions.
Session until May 27th
President of the Europe Now Movement (PES) Councilors' Club in the Capital City Assembly Anđela Mićović said on Thursday after a meeting between Borovinić Bojović and the heads of the governing party's parliamentary caucuses that the Assembly session would be scheduled under an urgent procedure within 15 days, "sometime by May 27th."
Responding to a journalist's question about whether Borovinić Bojović will remain in office until the end of her term or whether they expect her to resign and join the government, Mićović said that she could not answer such a question.
Councilor of Democratic Montenegro Mitar Paunović He said that the opposition wrote a document (dismissal of Borovinić Bojović) in which it did not refer to a legal basis, because there is no such legal basis, and that he was pleased that the DNP did not sign it.
"This shows that the opposition does not know basic procedures," said Paunović.
Mayor of Podgorica Saša Mujović After the meeting, he said that it was interesting that the opposition proposed Borovinić Bojović as Mašković's deputy, whom they wanted to replace.
"We will probably have some of our own candidates. We will probably have some of our own solutions. The most important thing is that the city functions smoothly and that is the main and most important message we have for the citizens," said Mujović.
When asked whether there had been any talk of introducing compulsory administration in Podgorica, he said that the city was functioning regularly.
"What we have to do is respect the law. So, we are going to an emergency session now. We will see what the status of Ms. Borovinić Bojović will be, whether that initiative will pass, what will happen in the future," said Mujović.
He emphasized that they were not talking about compulsory administration.
Krstović: The position of vice president should not be filled
Miloš Krstović from the Movement for Podgorica said that their official (Dragutin Vučinić) resigned from the position of Vice President of the Capital City Assembly due to disagreement with the Spatial Urban Plan (PUP) of Podgorica, and that political entity believes that the position should not be filled now.
"We are strictly adhering to what we signed, which is that the President of the Capital City Assembly should be Jelena Borovinić Bojović, and the Mayor should be Saša Mujović, exactly as the citizens expressed their will in the elections," he said.
Also, as he added, the citizens did not give a mandate to introduce any forced solution in the executive branch, but rather a mandate to complete what they were promised and to responsibly lead the capital.
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