Good morning! Yesterday we saw Spajic’s Serbian passport and he admitted he had it and that we wanted to renounce it. Here are the possible future scenarios.
What will happen with Milojko?
I wanted to reflect on the DPS candidate and humorously compare another delay in their decision with Djekna, but ‘Europe Now’ doesn’t allow me. Yesterday, CdM published a picture of Spajic’s passport, which finally forced him to admit and start the process of renouncing his Serbian citizenship. However, it’s not a simple procedure and can take some time. At the same time, MUP will initiate the procedure of revocation of citizenship in accordance with the law. And that process can and will last.
No matter how quickly bodies of Montenegro and Serbia complete the procedure, Europe Now claims that formally it cannot make an obstacle for Spajic’s candidacy, because at this moment he still has a Montenegrin passport. The President of the State Election Commission, DIK, admits that he is dissatisfied with the fact that his institution initiated a whole procedure as it wasn’t competent to interfere, shifting the responsibility to the collective decision-making of that body, in which the majority are representatives of political parties.
The fact that most of the commission’s representatives are politically elected makes Spajic’s candidacy even less certain. Just as the majority of sovereignists, with the help of the DF, started this whole story about Spajic and Mandic’s candidacy, today they have enough political arguments to say that they aren’t sure that Spajic can hold office for a full term in the next five years, and consequently reject his candidacy.
If they reject his candidacy, he has the right to appeal to the Constitutional Court, which should be completed only on February 27, while on February 26, the candidacy process closes and a single list of candidates is published is to be published on 28 Feb.
Legal games are now being played indefinitely, and all the efforts of Spajic’s opponents are aimed at disqualifying him, while he undoubtedly helped them. Spajic’s candidacy was thus submitted late last night, after Petar Komnenic raised a question about the validity of the Certificate of Citizenship following the initiation of the procedure before the Ministry of Interior. I don’t know if that was a trigger, but very soon we saw the president of DIK leaving the show and going to receive Spajic’s candidacy. Circus Montenegro, dear readers, what else can I say.
It’s clear to everyone that there was a collusion of different, until yesterday irreconcilable entities and objects, but that doesn’t change the fact that Spajic deceived the public, hoping for discretion of Serbian administration. Such trust in the administration of another country raises doubts about him as a candidate, and raises the question of whether, if the passport had not been published, and if Spajic had been elected as president, our unsuspecting president would have been at the mercy of Serbia, which could blackmail him with this.
Spajic did this to himself. We know that everybody lies, but he was caught and it happened in a moment when everybody was looking at him. It’d be fair that everybody suspected of possessing a dual citizenship undergo the same procedure. For example, mayors of Budva and Kotor. Although Andrija Mandic can claim whatever he wants, because his patrons from Belgrade are going to protect him, if we take into account the 2007 article, he was about to apply for a Serbian citizenship, which means he hasn’t received it yet. Mandic’s candidacy is a key moment which is supposed to demonstrate impartiality of institutions. If they disqualify Spajic, and don’t do the same with Mandic, Spajic and Europe Now will be able to challenge legitimacy of the entire process. Everyone should be treated equally.
Spajic lost trust of a part of the citizens with this whole situation, and judging by the reactions of civil society and the media, which traditionally criticize Djukanovic, he and Europe Now have very few allies left in Montenegro. He had few options left. The first is to accept the rejection of the candidacy, withdraw and support another candidate of the August 30 bloc. The second is to accept all that and call for a boycott of the elections. The third does not depend on him, and it’s for DIK to confirm his candidacy.
The entire show over Spajic should be a lesson for Montenegro citizens – getting a Serbian passport is not a free service and that with getting it, you do have rights but certain obligations as well. Towards the Republic of Serbia and its national interests, which are often not aligned with the interests of Montenegro.
That’s all for today and this week. Until Monday.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM observer
(The opinions and views of the author’s columns do not necessarily reflect the views of the CdM portal)
