From three Leaders to three Stooges: Dinosha, Bardhi & Sinishtaj struggle with constitution

PODGORICA, Montenegro, 23 October 2007 -- Fireworks lit the sky above Podgorica this past Monday night to celebrate the important milestone for the country after it approved the much anticipated constitution after becoming a sovereign state 16 months ago. The festivities followed by a reception for Montenegro's political elite and diplomats who were the architects of the legal document.

Last Friday parliament voted to adopt a constitution reflecting the country's newly gained independence, and then formally adopted it late Monday night, after much political maneuvering among its members in parliament.

In the 81-seat parliament, 55 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, while 22 voted against it, and the rest abstained. Following months of deliberations in parliament, the ruling coalition managed to secure the two-thirds majority required for the adoption of the constitution to avoid a referendum.

The three Albanian representatives (Vasel Sinishtaj, Ferhat Dinosha, and Mehmet Bardhi), decided to abstain and did not vote in favor nor against the text. But their decision to abstain once again played into the hands of the majority.

Out of the 77 votes cast, the three Albanian votes (and 1 Bosniak) were the only ones undecided, leaving many experts to believe that the Albanians were under immense pressure not to partake in what could have been a deciding factor on whether the document passed or went to a referendum. Because 54 votes were required to reach two-thirds, securing the Albanian vote was critical, and thus came the incentives to Sinishtaj, with promises of a full municipality for Tuz, similar to promises made during Montenegro's independence drive, but with no end result.

According to published reports (BIRN, Blic, Dan, Vjesti, SE Times), the document was approved by the opposition Movement for Changes, the Liberal Party and by parties that represent Montenegro's Bosniak Muslim, Albanian and Croat communities. However, the Albanian support seemed to drop off when Sinishtaj and Bardhi reportedly backed-off on their initial support of the document and sought consultation from the Albanian diaspora in the United States as to whether their vote was representing the needs of those Albanians from Montenegro who live outside the state.

The diaspora requested to review the draft, but when the parties were unable to furnish a copy of the legal document it was too late and the constitution had already gone to a vote.

The decision to abstain is an enigma to this day, especially given that Dinsosha had more important business to attend to outside Montenegro and thought that voting for a document that would seal the fate of his people was not pressing enough. Bardhi, on the other hand, went on record to cite breaches to European laws as the reasons behind his decision to abstain. Although his argument was not supported by one single reference to any European law against minority/human rights, he would have had more credibility and substance to his decision by just voting "NO" instead of not voting at all. Abstaining provides some legitimacy, if not acceptance, to the language of the constitution, therefore his arguments were also dumbfounded. Sinsihtaj, a candidate that was vigorously supported by Malesia and the diaspora seemed confused from the very beginning. He was used as a pawn for the Montenegrin majority as they promised him a full municipality in Malesia for his vote. After initially agreeing to the language, he immediately backed off, without any argument or reasoning why, thus also abstaining and conceding that the Constitution may be in the best interests of Albanians, but not sure.

On the other hand, members of some pro-Serbian political parties in Montenegro boycotted the proclamation ceremony of the new Montenegrin Constitution on Oct. 22, saying it makes about 200,000 Serbs who had comprised a constitutive nation the minority in Montenegro, and under the new constitution, the Serbian language has been removed from official use and Serbs have no right to dual citizenship.

Where Albanians threw heartless jabs at the constitution in efforts to back their decision, parliament members from the Socialist National Party, National Party, Serbian National Party and Democratic Party flatly rejected the constitution, saying it does not guarantee the same right to all people in Montenegro.

According to the agreement which led to the constitution, early elections would be held in late 2009, a year ahead of schedule.