Home > 1.1.1.3 Residence > MONTENEGRO- Opinion on the Compatibility of the Existing Legislation Concerning the Organisation of Referendums with Applicable International Standards
 
 
 
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Paragraph 55
 

 Another argument used in the 2001 report was the risk of double voting, arising from the fact that hitherto Montenegrin citizens resident in Serbia could exercise their electoral rights in Serbia. This corresponds to the tradition of the former Yugoslavia that all citizens could vote at their place of residence. Article 7.2 of the Constitutional Charter of the State Union opens the door for a different practice. It provides that “A citizen of a member state shall have the same rights and duties in the other member state as its own citizens, except for the right to vote”.  Article 4 of the law on citizenship of the Republic of Serbia was amended in December 2004 in the sense that a citizen of the other member state of the State Union has equal rights on the territory of the Republic of Serbia with the exception of the right to vote. This may in the future prevent Montenegrin citizens living in Serbia from exercising their right to vote in Serbia. Such a step, disenfranchising a considerable number of people, would however be regarded by many observers as a violation of the Serbian Constitution and electoral legislation, which, at least in their traditional interpretation grant to all citizens of the State Union resident in Serbia[21] the right to vote. The conformity of this measure with Article 3 of the First Protocol to the European Convention of Human Rights could also be questioned. It seems in any case by no means sure that the Serbian authorities will indeed take the step of disenfranchising what might be more than 260,000 existing voters.