Podgorica, (MINA) - The Ministry of Public Administration (MJU) has exhausted all legal option for further action regarding the situation in the Kotor Municipal Assembly, said Minister Marash Dukaj.

Speaking in the Parliament on Wednesday during a special session, Dukaj responded to a question from Democratic Party of Socialists MP Nikola Milovic on whether he would propose to the Government to submit a decision to shorten the mandate of the Kotor Municipal Assembly and start the process of dismissing the municipality’s president, Vladimir Jokic.

“MJU has at this moment exhausted all legal option to act in the Kotor Municipal Assembly”, said Dukaj.

Speaking about potential dismissal of Jokic, Dukaj said that the MJU initiates the procedure for the dismissal of the president of the municipality only when the factual situation has been established and the legal conditions prescribed have been met.

He said that the current legal framework, which was adopted by the former government, has legal gaps and that he expects that they would be solved by the new Law on Local Government, which is expected to soon enter parliamentary procedure.

Milovic said that the Ministry had an obligation to take further steps, including a proposal to the Government to dismiss Jokic.

He assessed that based on the response that the Ministry provided it indicates that despite identified irregularities, no further measures have been taken.

Milovic questioned the reasons for the Ministry’s inaction.

He warned that Dukaj, with such a “precedent”, enabled that after the next local elections, future municipal presidents interpret the law at their own and undermine the electoral will of citizens.