Opposition Fails to Attend Constitutional Committee Session or Nominate Member, Position Awarded to Rovčanin
Božović, Photo: Parliament of Montenegro
Today, representatives of the opposition were absent from the Constitutional Committee meeting and did not nominate a third member for the commission that evaluates whether the candidate applications for judges of the Constitutional Court were submitted following the public call. Consequently, the position will be filled by Nikola Rovčanin, an MP from Democratic Montenegro.
The chairperson of this parliamentary body, Jelena Božović (New Serbian Democracy), mentioned that the member would be chosen from the ruling majority and highlighted their willingness to let the appointee come from the opposition, which was not an obligation on their part.
“The opposition’s recent demand following the ruling on Judge (Dragana) Đuranović’s retirement was for the committee to revoke its previous conclusions. This is not legally feasible and has never occurred since no political decision was made here; the committee simply acknowledged that Đuranović met the criteria for retirement. This was subsequently presented to the President of the Assembly, who affirmed those conclusions. Thus, there are no unconstitutional actions or coups, as the opposition claims while inflating public tensions,” stated Božović.
She further noted that two years ago, when the ruling majority, which included the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) in support of the minority government, opted to delay elections, the Constitutional Court deemed that decision unconstitutional. Nevertheless, elections still took place in October.
“If the Constitutional Court has ruled such a law as unconstitutional, what implications does that have for all actions derived from that law? It implies that every election held on October 23, 2022, including the local parliament elections, elections of municipal presidents, and the decisions made by those municipal presidents, are now in question,” Božović emphasized.
She recalled that Supreme Court judge Vesna Medenica was elected president unconstitutionally for the third time and questioned whether, in that context, all decisions made during her third term were also unconstitutional.
News