Democratic Front (DF) is aware that it must return to Parliament at one point in order for electoral legislation to be amended, said the MP of this political entity Branka Bosnjak. However, she did not want to specify when this would happen.
At a press conference, Bosnjak said that, if there is no readiness to make essential changes to electoral legislation in addition to the OSCE/ODIHR technical recommendations, the elections in Montenegro will continue to be non-free and unfair.
“It would be best if the opposition was united and if it created a joint proposal for the amendments. Unfortunately, this self-proclaimed civic opposition obviously sees the Democratic Party of Socialists as a closer entity than DF. So, let them continue to wait for the signed of the great boss who had gathered them at the same table before the last elections,” said Bosnjak.
“I know that it is necessary to return to Parliament at one point, because amending the Law on the Election of Councillors and MPs requires two-third majority, which currently does not exist in the parliament,” Bosnjak said.
According to her, there must be “some sort of relations with the authorities, because these laws would not be adopted otherwise”.
“But the point is that there is no unity of the opposition. It is obvious that they mustn’t cooperate with us; it is obvious that this is a position of foreign embassies, or a Plan B,” Bosnjak said.
As she said, in the light of all this, DF will consider its further steps.
“It is important that we have everything prepared and that we know that we have not been bone idle all this time of the boycott. At one point, there must be a return to Parliament if we want to change the electoral legislation,” Bosnjak said.
She also said that there is also the option to boycott of all the remaining elections if the law is not amended.
“That requires unity, because partial boycott of the elections does not produce any results,” Bosnjak added.
She did not want to specify when DF would return to Parliament, stating that the alliance’s decision would not depend on the position of the rest of the opposition on this matter or on its activities.
Commenting on the Parliament Speaker’s announcement that all OSCE/ODIHR recommendations would be implemented, Bosnjak said that it showed he was not aware of Constitution provisions.
“It is clear that it is unrealistic to fulfil one of the recommendations related to removing the two year residence condition, because it would require a long procedure for amending the Constitution by a two-thirds majority and the confirmation of the decision by three-fifths of the electorate in a referendum,” Bosnjak said.
As she stated, this recommendation in such a divided Montenegro is impossible to carry out at this moment.
“And we are not sure that this would be a good solution for Montenegro, as a country with a small population,” Bosnjak added.
DF believes that it is not enough only to amend the Law on the Election of Councillors and MPs to create conditions for free and fair elections. Instead, the entire set of laws directly or indirectly related to electoral process. They include the laws on electoral roll, on the register of residence and place of residence, on Montenegrin citizenship and on the financing of political entities and election campaigns.
