Votuesi

Politikani voton per pushtet para, biznesmeni per kapital, nepunesi per rrogen, fukarai per nje genjeshter, budallai per ideal.  Gjeje ku jan Malesoret e Malit te Zi?

 

Both Sides Claim Victory in Montenegro Vote

Associated Press
PODGORICA, Montenegro April 7, 2013 (AP)

Both the incumbent and the opposition candidate claimed victory in Montenegro's presidential election Sunday, fueling political tensions in the small Balkan country which is striving for European Union membership. State election authorities had yet to release any official results in the race for the largely ceremonial post.

President Filip Vujanovic, from the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, said that based on his camp's own, full count of the votes, he had won 51.3 percent of ballots, while opponent Miodrag Lekic won 48.7 percent.

"I want to inform the public that I have achieved a victory," Vujanovic announced. "I would like to thank the citizens of Montenegro."

Lekic's camp, however, said it had counted 97 percent of the ballots and that their candidate had won 50.5 percent of the votes, compared to 49.5 for Vujanovic. The opposition said it expected the result to remain the same until the end of the counting process.

Lekic described his opponent's declaration of victory as "resembling an attempted coup d'etat."

"The citizens of Montenegro have trusted me to become the president," Lekic said. "I urge the other side to act in a serious and responsible manner. We will demand that each ballot be counted."


A contested vote could raise political instability in Montenegro, which opened European Union accession talks last year and needs to move ahead with the necessary reform process.

The presidency, which comes with a five-year term, does not have much power, but the tight result in the election still deals a blow to Montenegro's governing coalition, which has ruled the country virtually unchallenged for more than two decades.

Vujanovic is after his second presidential term since Montenegro became independent in 2006. He is an ally of Montenegro's powerful prime minister Milo Djukanovic and a strong advocate of Montenegro's integration into the EU as well as NATO.

Djukanovic appeared by Vujanovic's side on Sunday. He said Vujanovic's victory is indisputable and urged the opposition to "accept reality."

"The government will not allow anyone to jeopardize the legal order and stability in Montenegro," the prime minister warned.

Lekic is a former ambassador-turned-opposition leader whose candidacy won backing from most of Montenegro's otherwise divided and diverse opposition parties. Lekic has campaigned strongly on allegations that Djukanovic's government is plagued with corruption and crime.

He also has urged a referendum on NATO membership and an apology from the alliance for the 1999 bombing of the country while it was still part of Serb-led Yugoslavia.

For most of Montenegro's more than 600,000 people, the most important issue is the economy. The average salary in the country is less than 500 euros per month, while the unemployment rate officially stands at around 20 percent.

"We have had enough," said Radmila Pavicevic, an elderly resident of Podgorica. "They (authorities) have nearly choked us pensioners to death, and I feel sorry for the young too."

Milo Dukanovic sinks to new low accusing Kostunica of Murder

Kostunica Slates Montenegro PM's 'Vile' Murder Claim

Serbia's former Prime Minister has rubbished Milo Djukanovic's suggestion that he was linked to the death of a prominent Montenegrin journalist.

Milena Milosevic BIRN Podgorica

Vojislav Kostunica, Serbia's former leader and now an opposition politician, has hit back hard after Montenegro's Prime Minister implicitly linked him to the murder of a prominent Montenegrin journalist.

"I thought... Djukanovic would not be so vile as to rely on murdered people to keep power in the election," he said on Wednesday, referring to Montenegro's upcoming Presidential election.

He was referring also to Djukanovic's suggestion that he was to blame for several murders, including that of journalist Dusko Jovanovic, when he was in power.

Jovanovic, former editor of the opposition daily newspaper Dan, was killed in 2004 in the centre of the capital, Podgorica.

The issue resurfaced in the presidential campaign in Montenegro when Miodrag Lekic, an opposition presidential candidate, on March 10 urged Djukanovic to say who was behind the killing of Jovanovic.

Djukanovic on Monday assigned guilt to “the man... who knows how to set a foreign embassy on fire and has a nasty habit of taking to their deaths those who serve him if he concludes that they might serve him better if they are dead,” he said.

Although not explicitly naming Kostunica, the Montenegrin and Serbian public soon recongised the politician to whom Djukanovic alluded as Kostunica.

This is because he was Serbian Prime Minister in 2008, when rioters set the US embassy in Belgrade on fire following a governmentorganized rally, protesting at US recognition of Kosovo.

In an interview with Dan, Kostunica said Djukanovic had never mentioned this accusation to him during their meetings in the past.

“Insulting the murdered journalist by stating that I was his employer is a special kind of recklessness,” he added.

The Montenegrin opposition and family of the murdered journalist also condemned Djukanovic’s statements, urging the state prosecution to investigate them and demanding that the Montenegrin Prime Minister state more arguments for his case.

A Referendum on Absurdity

At a meeting held earlier this week, representatives of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and several Albanian parties hashed out a plan to introduce a referendum for a Tuz Municipality by no later than 29 September of this year, with the possibility of an earlier date if legal procedures allow.

Albanian leaders previously demanded that the ruling DPS hold the referendum simultaneously with the presidential election, which is tentatively planned for this Spring.  That plea was snubbed and Albanians reluctantly agreed that they will go ahead and throw their meaningless support for the referendum and to presidential candidate, Filip Vujanovic (DPS) anyway.  

The referendum would proceed as soon as the fesibility of the economic viability of the municipality of Tuz is complete  

In designing and implementing a referendum mechanism many important issues must be considered.  The questions are both procedural and substantive and must all be dealt with by law in order for the referendum to be deemed legitimate.

The referendum will be a vote to decide whether to re-establish the "Municipality of Tuzi", as normally referred by a government to the people.  Electors will vote by writing 'yes' or 'no' in the box opposite each question. 

Referendums can be mandatory or optional.  A mandatory referendum is a vote of the electorate which is called automatically under particular circumstances as defined in the constitution or ordinary legislation.  Mandatory  referendums are usually restricted to very important political decisions.  For example, this type for referendum is normally used in relation to constitutional revisions, disagreements between the president and legislature, adoption of international treaties,  joining a supra-national organization, on issues of national sovereignty or self-determination (For examples see Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Macedonia, Iceland, Peru, Lithuania, Switzerland & Venezuela).

The second category of referendum, and the one that is planned for Tuz, is the optional referendum.  This is a vote of the electorate which does not have to be held by law but can be initiated by the  government and in some cases by other parties.  This type of referendum can have many  different forms: they may be pre-regulated by constitutional rules or otherwise prescribed referendum rules (Spain,  Austria, Argentina); or they may be special (ad hoc) referendums setting forth particular rules to be followed specifically for individual referendum (Norway, The United Kingdom).  Optional or special (ad hoc) referendums are those that are not regulated in the constitution or any permanent legislation. 

Generally, in order to hold a special (ad hoc) referendum the decision to do so must come from the majority of the legislature (i.e., DPS) via passage of a specific law authorizing the holding of the special referendum.   Optional referendums have been seen frequently in Europe on the issue of integration into the European Union.  

  

Referendums are certainly wildly popular with voters, who like any opportunity to get their view across and feel like they have a say.  The ethnic classes instinctively welcome the idea.  But those who have looked more closely at what referendums involve might think otherwise.

There is widespread research showing that plebiscites around the world show they tend to be mainly used by autocratic regimes to get the answer they want.  The underlying question is whether they're actually that democratic, after all.  For example, (1) it’s legitimacy can be undermined by low turnout.  If only a small electorate show up and vote one way or the other, is this really the voice of the Albanians?  Given the salience of the issue, turnout should be expectantly high; (2) the result itself is subject to interpretation, as negative voting can be seen as either an indication of satisfaction with the status-quo or as a rejection of the politicians putting the idea forward.  Albanians may indeed be satisfied with the safety net of Podgorica; they might feel insecure and incapable of supporting their sociopolitical status be going forward alone.  Others may rebuke their own political representatives and cast a vote to maintain the status-quo, for example, as a show of dissatisfaction.  Although an independent Tuz Municipality is an ideal conclusion to the referendum, there are many in its jurisdiction that feels just fine with the territorial organization just the way it is.  Chances that the status-quo will remain intact, however are minimal.

One of, if not the most, important issues involved in crafting this referendum mechanism lies in the drafting of the referendum question.  The way the question  is phrased can have significant consequences on how Albanians vote and the method in which the question is crafted  and whom drafts it, can have substantial implications on the legitimacy of the referendum overall.  Therefore, it is crucial to consider all aspects influenced and procedures necessary to develop a strong, neutral and effective referendum question.

Then comes this Question:  Why have referendums?  Especially when the status that is being voted for should be a guarantee protected under human rights charters and minority laws, and not one that should be decided at the ballot box with a chance that these human rights are negated.  Albanians in Montenegro live in regions considered their Homeland, or an extension of the Albanian state.  To hold a referendum that decides whether to legally recognize a district (Tuz/Malësia) or not is absurd.  Malësia was once a fully functioning and legally recognized municipality before it was stripped of its rights in 1957.  Today, the politics surrounding the re-establishment of Tuz’s municipality have reached levels of absurdity on both sides of the political spectrum.  The ruling DPS has managed to have their way with Albanians and their puppet-representatives by using the promise of a municipality as a carrot to get what they needed – votes for an independent Montenegro and votes for sustaining DPS leadership.  Along the way, the municipality spotlight has dimmed the lights on other matters that are far more important for Albanians in Montenegro, and that a municipality cannot fix.  The fact that Albanians do not have a special status in Montenegro is concerning.  The constitution allows any minority group, past or present, to be protected under the same conditions.  This allows any ethnic minority to enter the country, settle where they choose and if their population is high enough can have a louder voice than minorities that were there since antiquity.   This problem is plaguing Albanians in Montenegro today.  Without a special status that would protect their territories (especially in the Malësia region), and permanent representation in any council apparatus, they could very easily (albeit constitutionally) become erased from the map.      What we are seeing instead are (Albanians) politicians doing what they are good at – chasing (rotten) carrots in efforts to elevate their political standings (in the eyes of no one that matters) and hoping that history books (or should I say coloring books) will remember their destructive deeds.

CIA analysis: By year 2035 the Albanian lands will be united

PRISHTINA - The Kosova leading news agency Koha wrote about the existence of a futuristic political map of Europe, made by a group of geopolitical and geostrategic experts, based on analyses of respectable and prestigious intelligence and special research institutions and analyzers, such as the CIA, GRU, Zbignew Brzezinski, famed political scientist Samuel Huntington and other reliable sources, a KS Reporter informs.

According to this map a series of new political, state and territorial divisions will shake Europe in the next 20 years.

On the Balkans, the map provides the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Croatia and Serbia, and integration by year 2035 of all Albanian ethnic lands into a single state through unification of Albania with Kosovo, parts of Macedonia, southern Serbia, Montenegro and northern Greece.

The rest of the analysis forecasted the following geopolitical changes:

The territorial changes will start in British isles, where Scotland will declare independence after referendum in year 2013. That will give the impetus for unification of Ireland.

Basque and Catalonian states will declare Independence from Spain taking also a part of French territory.

The collapse of multiculturalism will start in France. Unable to assimilate various former colonial ethnicity of different colors, it will have to resort to their deportation. High concentration is Islamic groups will pave a way for a rise of Islamic Arabic state in southern France. Lorraine on federal basis will join Germany.

Belgium will finally divide and the Flemish will enter in union with the Netherlands.

Business savvy northern Italians will become fed up feeding their southern brethren, which will lead to division of Italy. Poor southern Italy will be unable to retain integrity and Sicily and Sardinia will declare independence from it.

Bosnia will be divided between Croatia and Serbia. Albania unites with Kosova and part of Macedonia creating Great Albania.

Sad fate awaits Poland. It will have to give up Silesia, Pomerania and Prussia after rounds of new agreements between Berlin and Moscow. Moscow also will not able to retain Kaliningrad region and will transfer it back to Germany.

Belarus will disappear as a state and become province of Russia. Russia will also snatch eastern parts of Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine (also including southern Ukraine and Crimea). Large changes will undergo in Caucasus, because Russia unlikely will be able to keep Chechnia and Dagestan. A new borders will be drawn with Stalinist methods possibly along Terek river cutting densely populated mountain regions away from Russia.

Gëzuar Vitin e Ri 2013

Urime dhe Gezuar  Vitin e Ri 2013!  Zoti i bekofte Shqiptaret kudo qe jane! 

Merry Christmas!