(Podgorica, 3 April 2013) – It’s incredible that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Administration (MUP) that participated in the preparation of the Law on Electoral Lists, now says that it will not respect this law.
Until recently, the lack of concrete complaints was used as an argument supporting the integrity of the existing Electoral Lists. However, once complaints began to be filed, the Ministry now dares to publicly declare that it will not respect the Law on Electoral Lists on whose integrity the legitimacy of these elections depends. In other words, the Ministry has stated that it refuses to remove individuals from the Electoral List that do not have the right to vote, nor will it reinstate those who have been illegally denied the right to vote. Instead, the elections will be organized on the basis of a compromised Electoral List, resulting from the flagrant violations of the key law.
We’re shocked by the MUP’s declaration, which according to its mandate should have already been working to identify mass violations of the law and investigate these prior to finalizing the Electoral List. Instead, when others already investigated and prepared all the evidence for them, the MUP claims that they cannot respect the law. As a result, their actions bring into question the legitimacy of the electoral process, which is unfolding in a context where key legal stipulations are being violated.
We would also like to draw attention to the fact that this Ministry, nor other institutions, did not lack the capacity to undertake 30,000 changes in a five-month period. They must demonstrate seriousness and professionalism, especially given the fact that this institution is the largest employer in Montenegro (and can’t therefore claim that it suffers from poor administrative capacity).
In so far as the Ministry brutally violates the law and through this brings into question the legitimacy of the Presidential elections – and the conditions of their organization – it would be elementary for the responsible Minister to resign. In the case that the Ministry actually breaks the law, we expect that the Minister’s resignation will be demanded by both Presidential candidates (whose rights would have been violated in such a case).
