Photo: Stevo Vasiljević/PobjedaThe situation in Montenegro is mostly similar to "Cases" by Danilo Harms. It could be called an applied political absurdity in which judges of the Constitutional Court are drawn out of a hat, and parliamentary majorities disappear as if in some magic trick.
For "Vreme" from Podgorica
The majority in the Montenegrin parliament exists only occasionally and temporarily. It is like the creation of a good illusionist. It seems to be there, but when you put it to the test, it just disappears.
This led to the fact that both the "apostolic government" of Zdravko Krivokapić and the "minority government" of Dritan Abazović were replaced by the majority that elected them. The majority in the third attempt, the same one that elected the first post-Djukanović government, - after the agreement and the questionable change to the Law on the President, the constitutionality of which no one had to evaluate - elected the new mandate holder, Miodrag Lekić.
The enthusiasm lasted for several days, the proposal for the composition of the 44th Government did not even reach the Assembly. Dritan Abazović's URA and Vladimir Joković's SNP did not agree to schedule a session of the Assembly that would decide on the new government without prior agreement on each position in Lekić's cabinet. It has been confirmed that the political agreement has the function of postponing problems and introducing forced solutions into the space, and that only when political improvisations lose all meaning.
To make the absurdity even greater, this fact did not prevent the president of the SNP from saying a few days ago that Lekić was the most acceptable candidate for the mandate and that he saw no reason why he would not be acceptable for the president of the country.
As if nothing had happened
The minority government of Dritan Abazović is still working as if nothing had happened, according to the Prime Minister, "better than when it was in full mandate".
It is here. technical mandate just a kind of political euphemism. A term that no one is able to precisely define, nor does it have any consequences for the participants in the executive power. Certain caricature elements on the political stage were born from that situation, such as cases where a deposed government replaces its own ministers, or when ministers resign even though they have already been replaced.
This in itself can speak of a deep moral crisis, but also of a political play that brings benefits only in the political theater of the absurd.
The dysfunctionality of the Constitutional Court
The de facto dysfunctionality of the Constitutional Court called into question all the elections. And not only them. This is best confirmed by the case of local elections in Podgorica, where DPS does not want to hand over power without a final decision of the Constitutional Court on appeals.
The fact that the Constitutional Court does not have a quorum for decision-making left a huge space for political improvisations and voluntarism in political practice, and above all ensured the dominance of raw populism. General mistrust and strong polarization between political subjects and their elites, which excludes the possibility of a minimum agreement, generally does not lead to dialogue, but to a strong degradation of all state institutions, which the US special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, called - a possible "institutional collapse".
“Not with DPS”
The political narrative "not with DPS" that dominated the elections in the summer of 2020 and was the motto of the gathering of the parliamentary majority of 41 MPs, after the formation of the "minority government" of Dritan Abazović, remained only a political platitude. However, it is made so by the constitutional framework itself, which in special cases requires a qualified majority when making decisions in the parliament.
If the DF and the Democrats do not want a dialogue with the DPS, and this apparently represents an obstacle to achieving the necessary two-thirds majority for the election of judges of the Constitutional Court or the Supreme State Prosecutor, and for other decisions that require a qualified majority, it should be noted that such majority can be achieved even without DPS, with representatives of minority parties and those who really gravitate towards Đukanović's bloc, but are not DPS.
Obviously, the problem in the Parliament of Montenegro is not in "programmatic consistency" but in the fact that there is neither dialogue nor compromise. First of all, it is about an irrational need for absolute dominance similar to the one DPS had. Or, what former Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić defined through the dilemma of "replacement or change".
Fear of the Europe Now Movement
The urgent calling of presidential elections by the President of the Assembly Danijela Đurović, despite the fact that there is no functional Constitutional Court, had the obvious goal of preventing the simultaneous holding of presidential and extraordinary parliamentary elections. It is, undeniably, buying time until the necessary, extraordinary elections with the aim of stopping the rise of the Europe Now Movement and the positive echo effect from the local elections.
The reasons should include the belief that the possible defeat of the candidate of the Democratic Party of Socialists, be it Đukanović or not, would lead to a victory in the elections for the Montenegrin Assembly.
Although the fear of the strengthening of the Democratic Party of Socialists has faded, the parliamentary parties have panicked because of the dominance of the Europe Now Movement. An attempt to form a coalition with them will obviously be a political trend that will precede citizens going to the polls. Aleksa Bečić's Democrats, as an introduction to possible future cooperation, have already offered this movement a joint performance in the presidential elections, but Milojko Spajić announced that Europe will now have its own candidate.
Two young ministers from the government of Zdravko Krivokapić, who, by the way, formed his own Christian Democratic Party, Milojko Spajić and Jakov Milatović overnight, after success in local elections in most Montenegrin municipalities, and above all in Podgorica, became a real nightmare for all parliamentary parties.
According to public opinion polls, in the parliamentary elections at this moment they could capture a third of the electorate. How is that possible?
The answer is simple. Only they were not part of the policies that brought Montenegro to this impasse. Less important is the fact that this in itself is not a confirmation of their political quality.
Judges from the hat
At the beginning of next month, the Assembly would have to elect the four missing judges of the Constitutional Court. For more than a week, the performance examination of the candidates has been conducted at the Constitutional Committee. Although the talks are taking place in front of television cameras, under the watch of the international community and with strong diplomatic pressure to finally elect the judges after five unsuccessful attempts, the negotiations of the members of the Constitutional Committee on the candidates are taking place without the presence of the public. In fact, that would be a real contribution to transparency and a real pressure on MPs to find a compromise.
At the same time, the government's proposal to amend the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office will arrive at the parliamentary benches, which stipulates that the mandate of the Acting Supreme State Prosecutor is not limited to two consecutive six months, but can last until the election of the head of the State Prosecutor's Office for a full term. That proposal arrives at the Assembly at a time when the competition for the election of the VDT should be completed and in which the current acting woman also applied.
The message of the proponents is more than obvious - further prolongation of elections or disbelief in reaching a qualified majority.
Against this background, the proposal of the Vice-President of the Assembly, Branka Bošnjak, is that, if the voting in the Assembly is unsuccessful, the judges of the Constitutional Court should be chosen by drawing names from a hat. That proposal is not so meaningless. It is in line with the dominant spirit of politics in Montenegro. Such a choice would bring all the subjects to a clean slate, no one would be guilty of the lack of an agreement, and the Constitutional Court would finally be in the capacity to decide.
Thus, the system would be somewhat unblocked, and the political elites would once again run out onto the field with unfurled victory flags and worn-out phrases about the sacrifices made in the fight for a free Montenegro.
But how useful will those flags be in the elections? Europe is waiting for them there now.
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
Only the court can determine who caused injuries to whom, said lawyer Edvin S. Prelić, reacting to the claims of the Kreni-promeni movement that Aelksandar Šapić caused serious physical injuries to councilor Tatjana Mićić
The student plan calls for six months of voluntary military service, better conditions for members of the military, investment in equipment and the defense industry, an investigation into early deaths and numerous other changes.
The student list is asking for an investigation into the origin of the fake document, which threatens with the confiscation of pensions and prison sentences. The Ministry of Finance confirmed that the statements in the document are false
The students in the blockade of DUNP reported to the disciplinary prosecutor two Novi Pazar judges for attending the SNS pre-election rally. They say that such behavior undermines the independence of the judiciary
Consultations are being held in the House of the National Assembly on Friday before the constitution of the new convocation
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
