The key task of the upcoming electoral reform should be the depoliticization and professionalization of the electoral administration, achieving a high level of accuracy and up-to-dateness of the voter list, as well as holding local elections in one day.
This was assessed by the interlocutors of "Vijesti", commenting on what should be the priorities in the work of the Committee for Comprehensive Election Reform, considering that in the previous period all the weaknesses and shortcomings of the electoral process in Šavnik, Andrijevica and Budva were shown.
After vicissitudes between the local and executive authorities, Šavnik was left without a forced administration and without new elections, so the question is whether, in the current circumstances, anything other than the end of the elections, which began a year and a half ago, can solve the legal chaos in that municipality. In Andrijevica, the Government introduced forced administration and the board of commissioners will manage the Municipal Assembly until the constitution of the new convocation of the parliament. Budva avoided forced administration because the local parliament shortened its mandate on Monday, and the state president shortened it Jakov Milatovic announced the elections in that municipality for May 26...
The Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform was recently completed with the election of associate members from the academic community and the non-governmental sector, and the next session is scheduled for Tuesday. That working body has seven representatives each of the parliamentary majority and the opposition.
Mugoša: The most complex issue is the arrangement of the voter list
President of the State Election Commission (SEC) Nikola Mugoša told "Vijesti" that in a country where electoral reform has not been implemented for 10 years, it is difficult to prioritize what needs to be processed by the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform.
"Each new election cycle brought with it new challenges, which was especially evident during 2023 when we had three trips to the polls in a few months."
Mugoša said that after a long period, the second round of presidential elections was held in Montenegro, which showed the shortcomings of the provisions of the Law on the Election of the President, since the period between the two rounds is almost completely unregulated.
"Nevertheless, if priorities had to be determined, I would say that the most complex issue is the arrangement of the voter list. Although this issue is not within the competence of the State Election Commission, I appreciate that it is the most complex issue that the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform will face".
Mugoša pointed out that, unlike all other issues that involve legal analyzes and agreements on the concept, the voter list issue goes beyond the administrative framework and should be the product of demanding field work.
He pointed out that the preliminary data from the population census further highlighted this problem:
"In fact, those data showed that Montenegro has 633 inhabitants, and the data of the Ministry of Interior show that over 000 foreigners have permanent or temporary residence. If the number of minors, who do not have the right to vote, are added to these figures, and the aforementioned data is combined with the data that over 90 voters are registered in the voter list, the extent of the problem is more than clear".
Mugoša emphasized that the main cause of this problem is the out-of-date data of the residence register, bearing in mind that many voters who have lived outside Montenegro for years and even decades have not registered their residence.
"ODIHR, noting this problem, recommended that a field check be carried out in order to carry out control through direct inspection. However, during the eventual implementation of this recommendation, one should be careful, and in addition to state institutions, in order to strengthen trust and inclusiveness, political subjects, non-governmental organizations and all interested parties who can provide a quality contribution to this complex legal and logistical undertaking should be included."
Mugoša said that another extremely important issue relates to the structure of the election administration, especially the State Election Commission:
"I am of the opinion that the SEC should be depoliticized, that is, it should be composed of persons who have measurable results related to experience in the electoral process, as well as that these persons cannot be functionally connected with political subjects".
He said that special attention in this part should be devoted to defining the criteria so that the best candidates are really selected and that arbitrariness and possible abuses are reduced to a minimum.
"The problem of political representation in the SEC was also noted in the European Commission Report for 2023, where it is stated that although the SEC has progressed when it comes to its work and in principle increased transparency, the politicization of the SEC prevents this institution from realizing the role of an independent electoral body. which administers elections”.
Mugoša pointed out that, although once the depoliticization and professionalization of the SEC was only shyly mentioned in the public space, this concept is gaining more and more massive public support.
"We witnessed last week that representatives of several political parties represented in the Committee publicly expressed their support for this model, and it is especially encouraging that all five associated members representing the civil sector and the academic community publicly affirmed a depoliticized SEC as one of the priorities".
Kovačević: Local elections in one day
Program director of CDT Milica Kovačević she emphasized that the key task of the upcoming electoral reform is the depoliticization and professionalization of the electoral administration and the achievement of a high level of accuracy and up-to-dateness of the voter list.
"The attention of deputies must be focused on the fact that our voters do not have the right to independent candidacies or the opportunity to vote for individuals from party lists, that misinformation is an indispensable part of every election campaign, and that party financing is a source of political corruption and distrust in the election process."
Kovačević assessed that the current convocation of the parliament has a unique opportunity to resolve all these issues and show a new approach in understanding this key democratic process, on which the success of European integration depends.
"When we talk about local elections, as part of the reform, it is crucial to organize the holding of all local elections in one day, where councilors would be elected for a mandate period of four years. In addition, it will be necessary to discuss solutions that enable local elections to be held on a regular basis."
She emphasized that, apart from the fact that it is important for the normalization of political conditions in the country, primarily due to the situation where political parties are almost continuously in the election campaign, organizing all local elections in one day would prevent the migration of voters from municipality to municipality, which, as she said, she saw the extent of the problem with the example of Šavnik.
"Thus, in this way, it would be possible to prevent abuses and again the deliberate splitting of local elections by political subjects who do not like the orderly situation, but it would also encourage dialogue and agreement between political subjects at the local level".
Bearing in mind that the example of Šavnik showed numerous other shortcomings of the electoral process, Kovačević said that the importance of centralizing the electoral administration should be emphasized, along with its professionalization and depoliticization.
"In the current situation in which the SEC does not have the authority and jurisdiction over local elections and the work of municipal election commissions, there is room for trading in the quality of the election process, which we also had the opportunity to see in Šavnik how it can look and where it can take us."
Rovčanin: Certain norms passed the test of time
Democrat MP and member of the Electoral Reform Committee Nikola Rovčanin said that the Committee was formed with the intention of reaching common, consensual solutions comprehensively, systematically and with the recommendations of the OSCE and ODIHR, respecting and including in the work the NGO sector and the academic community.
"What Democratic Montenegro insisted on and offered several concrete solutions was to resolve the issue of Šavnik first, because we considered it pointless to enter into the reform of the electoral system burdened by the fact that a local government continues to function for a year and a half after the end of its four-year term mandate".
Rovčanin said that the essence is to create a democratic environment for a fair and legal electoral contest, by eliminating the so-called "electoral tourism", that is, the possibility of creating fake residences, in order to create an organized advantage for one electoral list.
"Therefore, the amendments to the law on the voter list that we proposed would eliminate such a possibility. Also, the operation and role of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Administration, in the area of dealing with citizens' residences, is very important."
Rovčanin reminded that in the previous interaction the Democrats submitted, as he stated, 300 concrete solutions, and that through this reform they will insist that most of those solutions be implemented.
"The Law on the financing of political entities is very important, by ensuring the equality of political entities and preventing the inflow of 'parallel funds', which greatly affects the equality of the election game. Also, limiting the misuse of state resources, equality in media reporting, protection from various influences, protection of workers in freedom of choice, ensuring full freedom of choice - these are some of the key elements of the reforms".
He pointed out that, in addition to the recommendations of international partners, he believes that Montenegro has rich experience when it comes to election cycles, bearing in mind that they are extremely frequent.
"So, the political life in our country has shown a lot and that certain norms have passed the test of time. In relation to that, I expect a consensus on a larger number of issues. In accordance with these expectations, I believe that the reform should have dynamics, to first resolve issues where there is the highest degree of agreement, and finally to seek common solutions for issues where there are overlaps between the parliamentary majority and the parliamentary opposition".
Rovčanin assessed that a successful electoral reform, as well as successful judicial appointments and a successful population census, is an important element in the overall mosaic of EU integration, so he expects sincerity and commitment from all actors.
Adrović: Up-to-date voter lists would avoid irregularities
MP BS and member of the Committee for Electoral Reform Admir Adrović said that one of the most important issues is the updating of voter lists.
"Precise and updated voter lists are necessary to avoid irregularities during voting. Also, strengthening the capacity of election commissions is something that our foreign partners, specifically OSCE and ODIHR, are warning us about. This includes training committee members to ensure that elections are conducted in accordance with the law."
When it comes to local elections, Adrović emphasized that it is necessary to reach a solution, which will foresee that the elections will be held on the same day in all municipalities.
"In order to achieve this, even in the event that the local parliament votes to shorten the mandate or it happens that the power cannot be exercised, new elections would be organized and the new mandate would last as long as there was left until the end of the mandate".
Zirojević: Pay special attention to the application of the law
Social Democrat MP and member of the Electoral Reform Committee Nikola Zirojevic said that, if everything goes well, the Committee for Electoral Reform will deal with numerous topics and laws concerning electoral legislation and the implementation of the election process.
"Each of those acts is of great importance, and as some of the priorities I would mention the arrangement of the voter list, the question of the authority of the state and municipal election commissions, and maybe, if there is a readiness for it, the question of the election system itself."
Zirojević emphasized that it is equally important that, along with the work of the Committee, all institutions in charge of conducting elections pay special attention to the application of laws, whether we are talking about existing laws or laws that will be adopted.
"Because we have witnessed in numerous examples, especially in the municipalities of Šavnik and Andrijevica, that the problem was not the quality of the legal solutions, but their implementation and the willingness of the institutions to implement the laws in an adequate manner".
He said that the situation in Savnik is still unclear and unresolved.
"We had an attempt to introduce forced administration from the Ministry of Public Administration under, I must say, rather strange circumstances and questionable reasoning, which caused a reaction from the local parliamentary majority, which shortened the mandate of the local parliament. Just at the moment when it seemed that the issue of Šavnik had been resolved and that the president of the state would call local elections in that municipality as soon as possible, he decided on a different legal interpretation and declared himself incompetent to do such a thing, causing, I must point out, even greater and a more serious crisis in Šavnik".
Zirojević said that getting into this situation must be an alarm for everyone, regardless of which political option they belong to, that the issue of Šavnik can only be resolved by the agreement of all political entities in that municipality.
Mugoša: "Quick" solutions only open new problems
When it comes to the problem in Šavnik, Nikola Mugoša said that he seems to have shown all the weaknesses of our electoral and legal system as a whole.
"Nevertheless, what I want to emphasize is that this issue goes beyond the problem of one electoral process and local self-government and can be a precedent for all future electoral processes".
Mugoša said that when holding any local elections, it is sufficient that there is an interested majority in the competent municipal election commission that can block the election process.
"In order to prevent this issue, during the electoral reform, it is necessary to foresee the holding of all local elections in one day, but also to give the possibility to the SEC to take over the jurisdiction of municipal election commissions when they do not act in accordance with the Law".
He emphasized that, unfortunately, the current regulations give the SEC that possibility only during parliamentary and presidential elections.
"If we learned something from the situation in Šavnik, it is that 'quick' solutions only open up new problems. In this context, I hope that the Electoral Reform Committee will look at all aspects of this situation and offer solutions that will not fail the first practical exam in some future situations".
Elections in Andrijevica on June 2
The President of the State, Jakov Milatović, announced the elections for councilors of the Municipal Assembly of Andrijevica for June 2.
"I expect that the election campaign will take place in a democratic atmosphere and that the citizens of Andrijevica will receive a government that will work dedicatedly for the development of their local community," said Milatović.
The government introduced forced administration in that municipality on Thursday, because the Andrijevica Municipal Council did not pass a strategic plan for the development of the Municipality and decisions on proposals for the dismissal of the President of Andrijevica Municipality Željko Ćulafić (SNP) and the President of the Municipal Assembly Mladen Đukić (Democrats) within the given deadline.
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