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Observation of the Parliamentary Elections in Montenegro (29 March 2009)

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Observation of the Parliamentary Elections in Montenegro (29 March 2009) Doc. 11867 27 April 2009 Observation of the Parliamentary elections in Montenegro (29 March 2009) Report Ad hoc Committee of the Bureau of the Assembly Rapporteur: Mr Andreas GROSS, Switzerland, Socialist Group Summary I. Introduction II. Political and legal framework III. Election administration IV. The media environment V. Complaints and appeals VI. The campaign VII. Election day VIII. Conclusions and recommendations I. Introduction 1. On 30 January 2009, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly decided to set up an Ad hoc Committee to observe the parliamentary elections in Montenegro (29 March 2009), subject to receipt of an invitation. Following an invitation from the Speaker of the Parliament of Montenegro, the Ad hoc Committee was set up and, further to the Bureau’s authorisation of 30 January 2009, the President of the Assembly appointed me as its Chair. 2. Based on the proposals by the political groups of the Assembly, the Ad hoc Committee was composed as follows: Mr Andreas Gross, Head of Delegation Group of the European People’s Party (EPP/CD) Mr Renato Farina, Italy Mr Jean Charles Gardetto, Monaco Mr Jean-Claude Mignon, France Mr Dariusz Lipi ński, Poland Socialist Group (SOC) Mr Andreas Gross, Switzerland Mr Jean-Claude Frecon, France Mr Maximiano Martins, Portugal Mr Fidias Sarikas, Cyprus F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex | e-mail: [email protected] | Tel: + 33 3 88 41 2000 | Fax: +33 3 88 41 2733 Doc. 11867 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Mr Bernard Marquet, Monaco Mr Mark Oaten, United Kingdom European Democrat Group (EDG) Mr Øyvind Vaksdal, Norway Ms Tatiana Volozhinskaya, Russian Federation Secretariat Mr Bogdan Torcatoriu, Administrator Ms Anne Godfrey, Assistant 3. The Bureau also authorised a pre-electoral mission. Its members were: Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), Head of delegation, Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), Andrej Zernovski («the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia», ALDE), Øyvind Vaksdal (Norway, EDG). The secretariat of the pre- electoral mission was ensured by Mr Vladimir Dronov, Head of secretariat, Interparliamentary co-operation and election observation and Ms Danièle Gastl, assistant. 4. The pre-electoral mission took place from 23 to 25 February 2009. It concluded that, with the necessary political will, Montenegro was capable of holding elections in line with European standards, despite the discrepancies that remained between the Constitution and the electoral legislation. It noted that the election administration demonstrated efficiency and represented a plurality of political views. The delegation was pleased with the active involvement of civil society and the print media in the process and praised the quality of their work. 5. The delegation expressed its concern over the fact that the Montenegrin authorities had not taken corrective action in line with recommendations made by the Parliamentary Assembly and other international observers in the wake of elections held in the country earlier. This concerns, in particular, the continuing possibility of changes to fifty percent of the order of the candidates on proportional lists after the closure of the polls, which contravenes Council of Europe standards in respect of democratic elections and the principles of parliamentary democracy. The delegation underlined that this possibility needed to be expressly prohibited by law. The delegation welcomed the assurances it received from the Speaker of the parliament that this concern would be duly addressed when the relevant legislation is revised. Another concern related to a rather vague constitutional provision regarding authentic representation for people belonging to national minorities. The delegation stressed that Montenegro would be well advised to work on these legal issues with the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe. 6. The programme of the pre-electoral mission is reproduced in Appendix 1 and the statement of the delegation is in Appendix 2. 7. The Ad hoc Committee which observed the elections worked as part of an International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) alongside the election observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) and a delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA). 8. The Ad hoc Committee met in Podgorica from 27 to 30 March 2009 and held meetings with the Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, the Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Mission, OSCE/ODIHR analysts, the Head of the State Election Commission of Montenegro (SEC), representatives of political parties, as well as with representatives of civil society and the media. The programme of the meetings of the Ad hoc Committee appears in Appendix 3. 9. On Election Day, the Ad hoc Committee split into seven teams which observed the elections in and around Podgorica, Kolasin, Danilovgrad, Niksic, Bar, Ulcinj, Cetije and Kotor. 10. The Ad hoc Committee concluded that the parliamentary elections in Montenegro on 29 March 2009 met almost all international commitments and standards, but that the process again revealed the need for further democratic development. In the press release issued after the elections, as well as during the press conference organised on Monday 30 March, I took the opportunity to stress that “the organisation of the elections was remarkably efficient. But to gain legitimacy and build confidence among the entire electorate, 2 Doc. 11867 especially among voters supporting those who lost the elections, the winners have to be more inclusive, pluralistic and fair”. The press release appears in Appendix 4. 11. The Ad hoc Committee wishes to thank the Montenegrin authorities, the OSCE/ODIHR, as well as the SRSG and the staff of the Council of Europe Office in Podgorica for their co-operation and their support. II. Political and legal framework 12. Early parliamentary elections were called by the President of Montenegro on 27 January 2009, the day after the parliament voted to shorten its mandate. These were the first parliamentary elections held under the new Montenegrin Constitution, which was adopted in October 2007. Although elections were expected before the end of 2009, certain groups in the opposition criticised the timing and some parties challenged the legal framework. 13. The Montenegrin Constitution establishes a unicameral parliament of 81 deputies, elected for four- year terms. The Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives (Election Law) provides for the allocation of mandates, with a 3 per cent threshold, on the basis of a proportional list system, within a single nationwide constituency. Five of these mandates, however, are allocated to a ‘special’ constituency comprising 70 polling stations designated for these elections by parliament; these are in areas populated primarily by ethnic-Albanians. 14. By law, one half of the mandates won by an electoral list must be awarded to candidates in the order in which they appear on the list, while the other half can be allocated to the remaining list of candidates in any order by the party leadership. This mechanism has already been criticised both by the Assembly and the OSCE/ODIHR, as it limits transparency and may be misleading to voters who cannot be certain which candidates will represent them. This way of a “party leaders parliamentary seats administration” is inacceptable because it is in contradiction with the principle of a free mandate and undermines the potential of parliamentary democracy. 15. The 2007 Constitution generally guarantees fundamental civil, political, and human rights and freedoms. The Constitution provides that the right to elect and stand for office shall be granted to every Montenegrin citizen ( državljanin ) aged 18 years or older, with at least two years of residence in the country. The two-year residency requirement, inherited from the pre-independence period, is, however, not consistent with the principle of universal suffrage. The right to elect and be elected should be granted to all citizens as a fundamental human right, and any practical considerations for the implementation of this right should be addressed in legislation. 16. Parliamentary elections are regulated by a comprehensive legal framework that generally provides an adequate basis for the conduct of democratic elections. However, the legal framework has yet to be fully harmonised with the Constitution, and most issues in the recommendations made in the past by the Assembly and other international observers have not been fully addressed. Concerns included issues with voter lists, candidate registration, voter education, voting, count and tabulation, complaints and appeals, campaign financing and the blurring of state and party structures. 17. The Election Law is the primary piece of legislation regulating parliamentary elections. It was initially adopted in 1998 and amended several times, most recently in 2006. Discussions to harmonise the Election Law with the Constitution, which requires a two-thirds parliamentary majority, stalled in the parliamentary working group, mainly due to a lack of consensus over implementation of the Constitutional provision for “authentic representation” of national minorities in parliament. Political parties have disparate views of the mechanism that would best enshrine this principle. The current deadline for finalising this harmonisation process is October 2009, but this is an extension from the initial deadline of January 2008. III. Election administration 18. Elections are
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