(Podgorica, 6 April 2013) – This morning the 48-hour deadline – as stipulated in the Law on Electoral Lists – ran-out for the MInistry of Internal Affairs (MUP), which was supposed to submit oversight rulings in some 7,000 complaints filed by MANS and submitted by both candidates. The MUP was expected to rule on the existence of irregularities in the Central Electoral List, meaning that it has technically violated this Law.
It is worth recalling that one of the presidential candidates submitted their complaints Tuesday afternoon (April 2), while the other candidate submitted theirs on Wednesday morning (April 3). According to the Law on Electoral List, the MUP had 24-hours from the submission of complaints to carry-out oversight over them (i.e. by Thursday morning at the latest). After this, MUP had 48-hours to prepare and submit to both candidates all oversight rulings. It is this deadline that has expired since this morning.
Instead of MUP – incidentally, the largest employer in the country (along with the police) – carrying out its duties in accordance with the Law, the Minister of Internal Affairs Rasko Konjevic has instead resorted to declaring how his ministry lacks the capacity to implement the current law. This, in spite of the fact that it was the MUP that participated in drafting this law. The fact that 30 employees at MANS were able to, in a few days, verify the entire Electoral list – covering roughly 510,000 voters – as well as prepare complaints and submit these to the presidential candidates, speaks directly the nebulousness of Konjevic’s claims. It is hard to believe the MUP, which employs thousands (including the police), is unable to meet its legally mandated deadlines in order to rule on the complaints filed and submit its findings to both presidential candidates (which is their right according to election regulations).
In a situation where the rights of both presidential candidates were violated in these elections, since the MUP doesn’t want to establish whether or not there were irregularities in the Electoral List (within the legally mandated deadlines), the legitimacy of the electoral process is being brought into question. We believe that those directly responsible for this state of affairs need to be held accountable – including legal proceedings that would force them out of their public roles.
For this reason, we once again call upon Minister Konjevic to either immediately determine who the responsible individuals were in the MUP for this violation of the law (and sanction them accordingly, including removing them from their current positions), or to take the blame himself for the MUP’s violations of the Law on Electoral Lists.
If Konjevic fails to do so, MANS will immediately following the presidential elections submit a complaint to the Parliament’s Anti-Corruption Committee. We will demand that this body summon the Minister of Internal Affairs for a hearing, as well as rule on the need for the government to relieve Konjevic of his post. Given that the MUP has directly violated the rights of both presidential candidates, we believe that they will both join us in filing complaints to the Parliament’s Anti-Corruption Committee.
