Koprivica: The last chance for electoral reform

The Centre for Democratic Transition (CDT) is calling on the members of parliament who make up the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform to urgently create the formal conditions for the continuation of its work and to finally begin serious and high-quality work on advancing this reform, in line with the decision establishing the committee and international recommendations - said Executive Director of this non-governmental organization Dragan Koprivica.

He stressed that if politicians continue to constantly postpone serious and dedicated work and keep wasting valuable time on the implementation of this reform, the country will very soon reach a point of no return.

- It is an electoral standard that electoral legislation should not be amended within a year prior to elections. Given that the general local elections were scheduled by previous amendments for 13 June 2027, and that the expected date of regular parliamentary elections falls within the same period, the reform must be completed by June of this year - Koprivica emphasized.

This means, he added, that the draft amendments to the laws must be finalized no later than 15 April, in order to correct the major mistake made during the July round of electoral reform.

- In July, we neither had a quality public debate nor obtained opinions from relevant international institutions, which, according to established practice, requires a longer period of time. Only three months remain for us to formulate all the remaining solutions - Koprivica pointed out.

What CDT stated in July was, as he said, confirmed by the European Commission (EC) in November, when it noted in its report that the electoral reform had been carried out without substantive consultations and with only partial implementation of the recommendations of the Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR, and GRECO, and pointed to the need for further improvements to the legislation through an inclusive and transparent process.

- We remind that it is necessary to continue work on a series of interrelated processes - from introducing open lists, enabling individual candidacies, and the direct election of local community bodies, through ensuring a transparent and accurate voter register, to regulating a second round of presidential elections, addressing the problem of disinformation in the electoral process, strengthening sanctions for abuses, and protecting voting rights in accordance with international standards. Only when all these measures - which by their nature are complex, institutionally demanding, and impossible to implement overnight - are taken into account, can we speak of a truly comprehensive, high-quality, and sustainable electoral reform - Koprivica assessed.

He believes it is clear to everyone that there is no longer a single day to waste, and that any failure to continue this reform would represent a new blow by partitocracy to democracy and democratic processes in Montenegro.

- We hope that politicians will finally abandon the policy of relativizing the importance of this reform, inaction, and constant delays in fulfilling one of the most important obligations of this society - Koprivica concluded.