Human Rights Action (HRA) expresses its protest over the fact that new judges for the Constitutional Court were not elected yesterday, despite all three candidates fulfilling the legally prescribed requirements for the position.

It was in the public interest to fill the vacancies in the Constitutional Court, which is already practically paralyzed, as the remaining four judges cannot resolve electoral disputes or make any decisions that do not have unanimous consensus.

As far as the legal qualifications are concerned, both female candidates and the male candidate were over 40 years old, had at least 15 years of legal experience, and belonged to the category of distinguished legal professionals. None of them were subject to any serious objections, except for generalized and insulting accusations that they were biased or “obedient” to political parties.

During the parliamentary session yesterday, much was said about the additional qualifications that MPs and the President of the State wished the candidates had—such as having passed the bar exam or having a high GPA from undergraduate studies. However, none of these were actual legal requirements for the position. It was particularly unjustified to call candidates “arrogant” for applying even though they didn’t meet these non-existent requirements.

It was also stated that work in a non-governmental organization is less valuable than work in state institutions.

In this context, we want to emphasize with pride that several of our former colleagues who spent part of their careers working at HRA have since been appointed to prominent positions in the Ombudsman’s Office, Government, Parliament, the Office of the President, state administration, the legal profession, and the NGO sector. All of them have significantly contributed to Montenegro and proudly highlight their work with HRA.

Since HRA was mentioned three times during yesterday’s parliamentary session, we feel the need to address a few additional points.

It is true that in late July of last year, we publicly praised the professional qualifications of candidate Nerma Dobardžić, and criticized the Constitutional Committee for failing to support her candidacy, even though, in our opinion, she had the strongest résumé, along with five other candidates who also met all the formal requirements. We said at the time that the Montenegrin public, which urgently needs a functioning Constitutional Court, deserved to know why none of these qualified candidates were deemed worthy of selection.

However, the legal framework is what it is, and the rules for electing judges are clear: a simple majority in committee is enough to put a candidate forward, or they can be nominated by the President, while two-thirds or three-fifths of MPs must vote for them in Parliament. We believe that within these rules, all responsible stakeholders should have done their best to ensure that the Constitutional Court, a key institution, is restored with the available qualified candidates.

Of course, the entire process—and public confidence in it—would benefit greatly from open communication, where all concerns are expressed in a timely and transparent manner, ideally in the presence of the candidates, who would have the opportunity to respond. But the current rules don’t require this, and MPs, unfortunately, do not yet have enough sensitivity to the public interest to act transparently.

In an atmosphere where both nominating parties pushed only “their” candidates, at the expense of all others, no one was elected, and as a result, the Constitutional Court and the interests of citizens were betrayed.

HRA expects that in the coming month, awareness will grow regarding the need for unity, so that this country and its citizens can finally receive new Constitutional Court judges and continue to move forward toward European Union membership. This was also highlighted yesterday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in her message to Montenegro’s political elite.

Tea Gorjanc Prelević
Executive Director, Human Rights Action (HRA)