ODIHR presents expert comments on draft amendments to Montenegro’s election-related legislation in Podgorica

An expert from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) was in Podgorica on 21 December 2017 to present informal comments on draft amendments to election-related laws in Montenegro.

The comments, to the laws on the election of councillors and representatives, on the financing of political entities and campaigns, on the electoral register and on electronic media, were presented to the parliamentary working group set up to implement the Action Plan for Implementation of OSCE/ODIHR Recommendations on 2016 Parliamentary Elections.

The informal comments conclude that the draft laws are a genuine attempt to address many of the recommendations from the ODIHR final report on the 2016 elections and, if adopted, would represent an improvement over current legislation. However, some previous recommendations from the 2016 and other ODIHR reports remain unaddressed, including on legal competency requirements for voting, on providing adequate capacity and resources to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, and on addressing the lack of consistency in campaign finance regulations.

This visit was part of the three-year ODIHR project Support to Elections in the Western Balkans, funded by the European Union and the Austrian Development Agency.

All OSCE participating States have committed themselves to promptly follow up on ODIHR election assessments and recommendations. ODIHR has consistently supported the effective follow-up of recommendations, and the Western Balkans project builds upon this work.