Montenegrin
Roundtable “Reform of the Electoral System in Montenegro” , which consisted of one panel where the proposal on the practical public policy for amending electoral legislation, that CeMI advocates on the basis of its research results, was presented. The event represents a part of the international scientific research project „Balkan Electoral Comparative Study: Impact of Personal Vote on Internal Party Democracy“ that is being implemented by the Center for Monitoring and Research CeMI in cooperation with the partners Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade and Kosovar Think Tank KIPRED. Experts and researchers from Bosnia and Herzegovina are also included in the project, under the mentorship of international expert team from the University of Lausanne and Swiss Centre of Expertise of the Social Sciences. The project is being implemented within the „Regional Research Promotion Programme“ – RRPP, funded by Swiss Agency for Democracy and Cooperation SDC implemented by the University Friburg. Representatives of CeMI, M.Sc. Zlatko Vujovic – President of the Governing Board and M.Sc. Vlado Dedovic – Head of the Legal Department and member of the State Election Commission, spoke about the model for the reform of the electoral system of Montenegro, as well as Dr Bozidar Vujicic – councilor in the Local government of Budva Municipality, and Prof. Boris Vukicevic – professor at the Faculty of Political Science in Podgorica. Members of political parties, international organizations and embassies in Montenegro were participants in the round table.
Mr. Vujovic emphasized that introducing of system of preferential vote would be essential for Montenegrin electoral system. He indicated that CeMI advocates for using Finland model of voting – voting ballot is practically empty and the voter only chooses number of the candidate they want to vote for, which can cause MPs’ performance to be more efficient. Mr. Dedovic believes that one of the key segments of the reform of the electoral system in Montenegro should be reform of the conformation of the electoral administration, thus he presented CeMI’s model of the Law on the Authorities for the Implementation of the Elections, for instance that electoral administration should be based on the principles of independency, impartiality and integrity. Mr. Vukicevic talked about the history of the electoral system of Montenegro and he explained that Montenegro is in 100th place out of 193 member countries in the UN, on the list of women represented in parliament. Afghanistan, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, South Sudan, and Algeria are in front of Montenegro. Mr. Vujicic said that Civil Action referred to Federal Constitutional Court to plead if, in accordance to the Constitute, voters in Montenegro have the right to directly vote for the candidate.
All participants agreed that the reform of the current electoral system would be necessary and that it should move towards the alteration in order to raise the responsibility of MPs towards the electoral body.
