Podgorica, (MINA) – The standstill in the work of the Comprehensive Electoral Reform Committee is not a procedural error, but an indicator of a lack of political will for essential changes, assessed adviser to the President of Montenegro Marija Veskovic, and called on the MPs to resume work on amendments to the electoral legislation as soon as possible.

She said that, in a year when Montenegro aims to close all negotiation chapters and implement real reforms, the political parties once again demonstrated that changes to electoral laws are not a priority for them.

Veskovic, who is a member of the working group established with the aim to amend the Law on Election of Councilors and MPs, said that in the past six months, only one session was held, and that was a constitutive one.

That, she said, shows that MPs are not fundamentally interested in electoral reform, and especially in open electoral lists.

According to Veskovic, the fact that the President’s proposal to call a referendum on introducing open lists has been in the procedure for more than two months, without any response, is another message to the citizens that what strengthens their voice will always be sidelined.