LAW ON REGISTERS OF ELECTORS
The Register of
Electors is a public document wherein citizens are entered having electoral right
and it is kept for the purpose of elections.
The Register of
Electors is kept ex officio. The Register of Electors is a unique, consistent
and regularly updated, particularly after the elections have been set.
The Register of
Electors is kept for a territory of a self-government unit. An Elector may be
entered into the Register of Elector only once, into the Register of Electors
of only one local self-government unit and at one polling station.
The Register of
Electors is kept by a local administration authority and an executive authority
of a local self-government unit is in charge of its accuracy and up-datedness.
The Registers
of Electors are worked out in units of local self-government by polling
stations and they are unified into the unique Register of Electors (Central)
kept by a competent state administrative agency.
Keeping Central
Register of Electors includes: analysis of the Registers of Electors,
establishing eventual drawbacks and informing competent authorities as well as
undertaking technical and other actions for the purpose of accuracy and
up-dateness of the Registers of Electors.
The Registers of Electors under Article 3 of this Law and Para. 1 of this Article, are
worked out by computer data processing according to unique program made by a
competent state administrative agency.
The Ministry in
charge of administrative work shall prescribe contents and method of using a
unique program of computer data processing.
A Head of a
competent state administrative agency is in charge of keeping Central Register
of Electors.
All citizens
shall be entered into the Register of Electors having electoral rights or they
are to acquire electoral rights on the Election Day by their residence.
Citizens
residing abroad shall be also entered into the Register of Electors by their
ultimate residence before they have left abroad.
Citizens
serving military obligations or military training as well as citizens detained
or serving a sentence shall be entered into the Register of Electors by their
ultimate residence.
Persons having
been deprived of working ability by a court's in effect decision may not be
entered into the Register of Electors. Should these persons have been entered
into the Register of Electors they shall be deleted and after they have
regained working ability by a court's in effect decision, they shall be entered
again into the Register of Electors.
Entering into,
deletion from, modification of, amendment to or correction of Register of
Electors is carried out ex officio at the elector's request that he submits for
himself or for another person as well as at the request of a parliamentary
party respectively a submitter of verified electoral list or other legal entity
having legal interest in accordance with law and if related reasons are
prescribed by law.
Entering into,
deletion from, modification of, amendment to or correction of Register of
Electors is carried out on basis of data in the Registers, other official
records and public documents, indirect examination as well as on basis of data
and public documents attached to the request of the submitters under Para. 1 of this Article.
The authorities
in charge of keeping official records on citizens shall submit data affecting
accuracy and up-dateness of the Registers of Electors to the authorities in
charge of keeping the Registers of Electors within seven days of a day on which
the modifications are made.
A submitter of a request under Para. 1 of this Article shall be held
responsible for genuineness of data attached to the request.
Into the
Register of Electors shall be entered a unique ordinal number of registration
in the Register of Electors (order), name and surname, date and place of birth,
citizenship, address, date of the last statement of permanent residence and
personal identification number of an elector.
Exceptionally,
if an elector has no personal identification number, the number of his ID shall
be entered instead and if a date of the last statement of permanent residence
of an elector can not be established, a date of ID's issuance shall be entered.
Persons exercising electoral rights on the Election Day and if a date of
the last statement of permanent residence can not be established in the manner
prescribed under Para. 2 of this Article, a date of the
last statement of permanent residence of one of the parents or a guardian.
The Ministry in
charge of administrative work shall closely set a method of keeping,
correcting, submitting, concluding, locking, transcribing and presenting the
Register of Electors and other matters required for complete, accurate and
up-date keeping of the Registers of Electors.
Within three
days of the day of setting the elections, an authority in charge of keeping the
Register of Electors shall announce the Register of Electors and inform the
citizens that they may have an inspection of the Register of Electors, seek
entering into, deletion from, modification of,
amendment to or correction of Register of Electors.
Announcement under Para. 1 of this Article shall be made through a
public notice, media or in other manner if required.
An authority in
charge of keeping the Central Register of Electors shall, within 48 hours of
the day of setting the elections, announce in public in a daily newspaper
"Pobjeda" numerical and tabular review of data on modifications made
in the Register of Electors as a whole and by local self-government units in
relation with a Register of Electors according to which previous elections were
held.
An authority in
charge of keeping the Central Register of Electors shall announce data under
Para. 1 of this Article in public within 48 hours of a day of conclusion of the
Register of Electors under Article 12 of this Law as well as within 48 hours of
a day of final conclusion of the Register of Electors under Article 13 of this
Law.
An authority in
charge of keeping the Central Register of Electors shall submit all data on
electors to which modifications under Paras. 1 and 2 are related to, to a
parliamentary party or a submitter of a verified electoral list at their
request and on condition that a request is submitted not later than 48 hours of
a day of public announcement.
The Ministry in
charge of administrative work shall prescribe contents of numerical tabular review
of data under Para. 1 of this Article.
A request for
entering into, deletion from, modification of,
amendment to or correction of Register of Electors shall be submitted to an
authority in charge of keeping the Register of Electors. Required evidence is
to be attached to the request.
A competent
authority shall render a Decision upon the request under Para. 1 of this Article within 48 hours of the day of receipt of the
request. The Decision shall forthwith be forwarded to a submitter of a request
and to a person to which a modification in the
Register of Electors is related.
A complaint against the Decision under Para. 2 of this Article may
be lodged to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Montenegro (hereinafter:
Court) within 48 hours upon a receipt of the request.
A complaint
shall be lodged to the authority which has rendered the Decision and which
shall submit a complaint and other required documents within 24 hours upon a
receipt of the complaint.
The Court shall
decide upon the complaint within 24 hours upon receipt of the complaint in the
administrative lawsuit.
The Court's
decision is in effect and enforceable.
Entering into,
deletion from, modification of, amendment to or correction of Register of
Electors ex officio are carried out in accordance with a decision rendered by a
competent authority.
Related
provisions under Article 10 of this Law are applied to a procedure of decision
delivery, lodging a complaint and decision-making upon a complaint.
The Register of
Electors shall be concluded not later than 25 days prior an Election Day. A
competent authority shall render a decision on conclusion of the Register of
Electors necessarily containing total number of citizens entered into the
Register of Electors and a date of conclusion of the Register of Electors.
A decision on
conclusion of the Register of Electors shall be submitted to the Municipal
Election Commission not later than 24 hours upon rendering a decision.
The Municipal
Election Commission shall submit data on total number of electors in a local
self-government unit to the Republican Election Commission within 24 hours upon
a receipt of a decision.
The Republican
Election Commission shall announce in public a number of electors as a whole
and by local self-government units and by polling stations within 24 hours upon
a receipt of data.
After the
Register of Electors have been concluded, entering into, deletion from,
modification of, amendment to or correction may be carried out only in accordance
with a Court's decision in the administrative lawsuit not later than 10 days
prior to the set election date.
The Republican
Election Commission shall announce total number of the electors as a whole, by
by local self-government units and by polling stations within 48 of the
expiration of a period of time under Para. 1 of this Article.
An authority in
charge of keeping the Register of Electors shall draw up a verified extract from
the Register of Electors for each polling station. An extract shall be
submitted to the Municipal Election Commission and to a submitter of a verified
electoral list within 24 hours upon the announcement of the Register of
Electors under Article 13 Para. 2 of this Law.
An extract from the Register of Electors, except data under Article 7
Para.
1 of this Law, shall include: name of an authority
having drawn up an extract, date of drawing up and a mark of a polling station
which an extract has been drawn up for.
An authority in
charge of keeping the Central Register of Electors shall submit the Register of
Electors being computer processed in proper media, with data contained in an
extract from the Register of Electors to a parliamentary party or a submitter
of a verified electoral list, at their request, according to Article 7 of this
Law and within 48 hours of a day of receipt of the request and shall enable
access in the computer to particularly protected and separated data base of the
Central Register of Electors.
An integral
part of the Register of Electors computer processes in proper media is a
program solution for monitoring modifications on the electors.
An authority under Para. 1 of this Article, shall enable a parliamentary
party or or a submitter of a verified electoral list, at their request, an
access in the computer to particularly protected and separated data base of the
Central Register of Electors in a period from a day of setting the elections
until a day of final conclusion of the Register of Electors under Article 13 of
this Law.
An authority in
charge of keeping the Central Register of Electors shall carry out updating of
the Central Register of Electors under Para. 3 of this Article once a day, and
shall not be held responsible for eventual modifications in particularly
protected and separated database in the computer.
Provisions under Paras. 3 and 4 shall not refer to main database of the
Central Register of Electors.
State
authorities, local government authorities, public institutions and other
authorities, shall issue public documents essential for exercising electoral
rights immediately at the request of an elector and not later than a following
day of a day of submitting a request.
A competent
state authority and a local government authority shall enable the authorized
representatives of parliamentary parties and submitters of verified electoral
lists, an inspection of the Register of Electors of a local self-government
unit and of the Central Register of Electors as well as an inspection of the
official documentation according to which an authority in charge of keeping the
Register of Electors shall carry out entering into, deletion from, modification
of, amendment to or correction of Register of Electors.
The Ministry of
Internal Affairs and local government authorities shall enable the authorized
representatives of parliamentary parties and submitters of verified electoral
lists, an inspection of the official documentation according to which modification
of the Register of Electors shall be carried out (documentation; citizens' IDs,
statements of permanent residence and changes of permanent residence; citizen's
personal identification number, working ability, birth, marriage, death
registry, etc.).
The inspection
is carried out in the offices of an authority keeping the official
documentation.
The Ministry of
Internal Affairs and local government authorities keeping related official
records on citizens shall submit data affecting accuracy and up-dateness of the
Registers of Electors to parliamentary parties and submitters of verified
electoral lists at their request within 48 hours upon the receipt of request.
The Ministry in
charge of administrative work shall supervise implementation of the regulations
related to keeping the Registers of Electors.
After the
Ministry in charge of administrative work have established that the Register of
Electors has not been kept in the manner prescribed by law and regulations
passed in accordance with law, shall award to a competent authority to remove
all ascertained irregularities.
Upon the
petition of the electors, parliamentary parties and submitters of verified
electoral lists, the Ministry in charge of administrative work shall carry out
control within 24 hours of a day of receipt of the petition.
The Ministry in
charge of administrative work shall submit a copy of a Record on inspection and
a document awarding a competent authority to undertake certain measures and
actions to a submitter of the petition within 48 hours of a day on which the
inspection is carried out.
The Parliament
of the Republic of Montenegro and Assembly of a local self-government unit may
form the Commission for the supervision of the implementation of this Law.
The commission
membership shall be in proportion to the number of representatives, i.e. the
party’s councilors at the Republican Parliament, or at the local
self-government assembly.
The members of
the commission referred to in Item 1 of this Article shall be proposed by the
parties having seats at the Republican Parliament, or the councilors at the
local self-government assembly.
Any person
committing any of the following acts shall be sentenced for the criminal act to
imprisonment of 1 year:
1) Providing
without authority, data on a person being collected, processed and used for the
purpose of keeping the Register of Electors, or using them for some other
purposes;
2) Giving false
information about permanent residence and electoral rights for himself or for
other person;
3) Deleting,
modifying, damaging, concealing without authority or in some other manner
rendering computer data of the Register of Electors or a program of the Register
of Electors unusable;
4) Gaining
access without authority to the computer or computer network of the Register of
Electors by breaking measures of protection.
For the
following offences shall be fined at least five-fold amount of a minimum wage
in the Republic:
1) A person in
charge of keeping the Registers of Electors if not have provided their accuracy
and up-datedness;
2) An executive
authority in a local self-government unit and a responsible person of a local
government authority if not have carried out control of the accuracy and
up-datedness of the Registers of Electors;
3) A
responsible person in the Ministry in charge of administrative work if not have
passed regulations under Articles 4, 7 and 9 of this Law and if not have
carried out control under Article 18 Para. 2 of this Law;
4) A
responsible person of an authority not have submitted
beforehand data under Article 6 Para. 4 of this Law;
5) A
responsible person in the authority in charge of keeping the Register of
Electors not have made available an inspection of the
Register of the Electors to a citizen;
6) A person
have carried out entering into, deletion from, modification of, amendment to
the Register of Electors without a decision of a competent authority;
7) A
responsible person in an authority in charge of keeping the Central Register of
Electors if not have announced in public and not have submitted data under
Article 9 of this Law to a parliamentary party and to a submitter of a verified
electoral list;
8) A
responsible person in a state authority, local government authority, public
institution or other authority not have issued to an elector at his request, a
public document required for exercising his electoral rights within a period of
time prescribed in Article 16 of this Law;
9) A
responsible person in a competent state authority or local government authority
not have made available an inspection under Article 17 of this Law to the
authorized representatives of political parties and submitters of verified
electoral lists, respectively if not have submitted data under Article 18 of
this Law, at their request;
10) A
responsible person in an authority in charge of keeping the Central Register of
Electors not have complied with a request of a parliamentary party or a
submitter of a verified electoral list under Article 15 of this Law;
11) A
responsible person in an authority in charge of keeping the Register of
Electors not have submitted a copy of a verified extract from the Register of
Electors for each polling station to a submitter of a verified electoral list,
at his request.
The Ministry in
charge of administrative work shall pass regulations under Article 4 Para. 4,
Article 7 Para. 4 and Article 9 Para. 4, within 15 days of a
day of coming into effect of this Law.
A competent
local government authority and a competent state authority shall bring into
line the Registers of Electors with provisions of this Law within 30 days of a
day of coming into force of this Law.
An authority in
charge of keeping the Register of Electors shall announce in public a list of
persons entered into the Register of Electors without a citizen's personal
identification number or a number of ID within 15 days of a day of coming into
force of this Law.
A person under Para. 1 of this Article shall submit to an authority in
charge of keeping the Register of Electors, data on citizen's personal
identification number and number of ID within 30 days of a day of public
announcement of the Register under Para. 1 of this Article.
An authority in charge of keeping the Register of Electors shall
delete from the Register of Electors a person not have submitted data within
the period under Para. 2 of this Article by virtue of Law.
A person have been deleted from the Register of Electors in accordance
with Para. 2 of this Article, may request reentering
under condition and in the manner prescribed by law.
An authority in
charge of keeping the Register of Electors shall bring into line the register
of Electors in terms of entering data on citizenship with Article 7 of the Law
within one week of a day of coming into force of this Law.
Entering data under Para. 1 of this Law is not related to
the Register of Electors for the elections to be held within one year of a day
of coming into force of this Law.
The data
referred to in Article 9, Paras 1 and 3 of this Law, for the called local
elections in Podgorica and Herceg Novi shall be publicized by the body in charge
of keeping the Central Register of Electors, and forwarded to the parliamentary
party at its request within 72 (seventy-two) hours following the date the
regulations referred to in Article 9, Para 4 of this Law were adopted.
The rule
referred to in Article 9, Para 4 of this Law, for the called local elections in
Podgorica and Herceg Novi, is to be passed by the ministry in charge of
administration procedures within 72 (seventy-two) hours following the date of
this Law coming to effect.
The Law on
Registers of Electors, "Official Gazette of the Republic of
Montenegro", No. 4/98 shall cease to be in effect by a day of coming into
force of this Law.
This Law shall
come into force by a day of its publishing in the "Official Gazette" of
the Republic of Montenegro.
EXPLANATION
I
Constitutional basis for passing the Law
Constitutional
basis for passing the Law is contained in a provision of Article 12 Para. 1
Item 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Montenegro prescribing settling
other matters of the Republic's interest by law in accordance with the
Constitution.
II Reasons for
passing the Law
The Assembly of
the Republic of Montenegro at its first sitting of the second regular session
in 1999, regarding debate on Bill on Election of Councilors and Representatives
submitted by representatives of SNP (Socialist People's Party) and LSCG
(Liberal Party) and Bill on Modifications and Amendments of Law on Registers Of
Electors submitted by representatives of SNP, has rendered a decision on
forming a multi-party working group for preparation of electoral legislation. A
working group is entitled to, not later than by the end of February 2000, to
submit to the Assembly these bills that will be, if possible, a result of the
reached consensus of all parliamentary parties, respectively highest level of
understanding.
Taking that
into consideration as well as forecoming local elections in Podgorica and
Herceg Novi, the Working group put forth efforts to comply with the decision of
the Assembly as much as possible what led to submitting Bill on Registers of
Electors which all parliamentary parties agreed upon while the representatives
of the Democratic Union of Albanians and Democratic Alliance in Montenegro
conditioned their final consent to this Law with a result of decision-making
upon their proposal related to the Law on Councilors and Representatives.
The Working
group proposes the Assembly to debate and pass this law by emergency procedure
in order to adhere to defined deadlines for passing the law and setting local
elections in Podgorica and Herceg Novi.
The Working
group while working out this bill, has taken into consideration a Bill on
Modifications and Amendments of Law on Registers of Electors which
representatives of SNP has submitted to the Assembly of the Republic of
Montenegro as well as other proposals submitted to the Working group during its
work.
This bill is
one of the prerequisites for fully exercising electoral rights as one of the
basic and vested by the Constitution, political rights as well as a higher
level of confidence and safety in lawful and democratic elections.
III Explanation of the basic legal institutes
Article 1 of
the Law in terms of an applicable decision, specifically prescribes that the
Register of Electors is kept for the purpose of elections whereby a possibility
of using data from the Register of Electors is limited for other purposes.
The Law
(Article 6) in terms of an applicable decision, as a newness prescribes a right
of a parliamentary party, respectively a submitter of a verified electoral
list, or other legal entity having legal interest in accordance with law, to be
a party to the procedure of entering into, deletion from, modification of,
amendment to or correction of Register of Electors as it is indisputable that
it is of a legal interest to a political party that all citizens fulfilling
requirements for exercising electoral rights are entered into the Register of
Electors while a matter of exercising electoral right is solely a personal
right of an elector.
Article 7 of
the Law prescribes that the Register of Electors apart from data entered
according to current Law includes a unique ordinal number (order) of
registration into the Register of Electors, citizenship and data of the
statement of ultimate residence. A unique ordinal number (order) under which an
elector is entered into the Register of Electors, ensures monitoring of any
modification carried into the Register of Electors and relating to the elector.
The Register of Electors shall include data on citizenship for each elector as
a basic requirement for exercising electoral right while data on date of the
statement of ultimate residence is required for fulfilling the condition
related to residence for exercising electoral right, in compliance with the Law
on Councilors and Representatives.
Article 9 of
the Law provides that an authority in charge of keeping the Central Register of
Electors shall announce in public, and within 48 hours of a day of setting the
elections, a numerical and tabular review of modifications in the Register of
Electors as a whole and by local self-government units in relation with a
Register of Electors according to which previous elections were held as well as
deadlines for their publishing in daily "Pobjeda". In addition, it
provides that data on electors' names that modifications are related to shall
be submitted within specified deadlines to a parliamentary party or a submitter
of a verified electoral list, at their request. This decision provides a
parliamentary party and a submitter of a verified electoral list to have an
insight into modifications made in the Register of Electors in the meantime
that is to say, made from May 31, 1998 up to now.
According to
Article 14 of the Law, an authority in charge of keeping the Central Register
of Electors shall submit to a parliamentary party and a submitter of a verified
electoral list, at their request, the Register of Electors computer processed
on proper media, including data under Article 7 of the Law and shall enable an
access in the computer to particularly protected and separated data base of the
Central Register of Electors and also provides that an integral part of the
Central Register of Electors is a program solution for monitoring data on
electors.
An objective of
the proposed solution is to provide parliamentary parties and submitters of
electoral lists daily monitoring of modifications in the Register of Electors.
According to
Articles 15, 16 and 17 of the Law, parliamentary parties and submitters of
electoral lists have an access to the official documentation of the state
authorities according to which an authority in charge of keeping the Register
of Electors shall make the Register of Electors and which affects its accuracy
and up-datedness.
Article 18
prescribes an obligation of inspection authorities to act in accordance with
the petition of an elector, parliamentary party and a submitter of an electoral
list, within 24 hours of a day of submitting a petition and to forward a copy
of a Record on inspection and related documents, to a submitter of of a
petition within 48 hours of a day on which inspection is carried out.
Article 19 of
the Law provides a possibility that the Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro
and Assembly of local self-government unit may form a multi-party expert
commission for inspection of work, monitoring of exercising legal authorities
of competent state authorities in keeping the Register of Electors.
According to
newness in the Law, respectively prescribed obligations of state authorities
and political parties and responsible persons, Articles 20 and 21 prescribe
appropriate penalties.
Articles 22,
23, 24 and 25 govern transitional solutions, respectively deadlines for
implementation of some provisions of this Law.
IV Funds for enforcement
of this Law
It is necessary
to furnish additional funds in the Budget of the Republic for enforcement of
this Law.