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Home Newsroom News and press releases Drafting strategic plan for Montenegrin State Election Commission focus of OSCE-supported workshop
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Drafting strategic plan for Montenegrin State Election Commission focus of OSCE-supported workshop

14 June 2019
(l-r) Veljo Čađenović, State Election commission (SEC) Secretary, Siv-Katrine Leirtroe, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and Bujar Basha, OSCE Senior Election Adviser close the three-day workshop for SEC in developing a strategic work plan to identify key activities for 2019 and 2020, Podgorica, 14 June 2019. (OSCE/Karen Gainer) Photo details

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro supported the State Election Commission (SEC) in developing a strategic work plan identifying key activities for 2019 and 2020 by organizing a three-day workshop from 12 to 14 June in Podgorica. The workshop was attended by five commissioners and ten service staff members.

Closing the seminar, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Siv-Katrine Leirtroe, said that the SEC’s next steps will be to finalize the strategic plan. “The realization of this plan will support the building of public confidence in your Commission to administer elections in a fair and transparent manner, which is essential for voters of Montenegro,” said Leirtroe.

“Bearing in mind that 2020 is an election year; the SEC is committed to starting the preparatory activities this year,” said Veljo Čađenović, SEC Secretary . “Special attention in planning should be dedicated to improving the transparency of the work of the SEC and to strengthening personnel and administrative capacities,” he added.

OSCE Senior Election Adviser Bujar Basha encouraged the SEC to continue its work on drafting the strategic plan and to establish clear objectives for the next two years. “The best time to start developing the plan is immediately following this workshop,” said Basha.

Participants of the seminar agreed that the SEC needs a strategic plan as it would be very helpful for the institution to have a clear vision that can determine the SEC’s desired future. One of the challenges in planning will be potential electoral reform, since it will require, among other things, harmonization of secondary legislation with new legal solutions, as well as a greater need for education of election administration bodies at all levels.

This workshop is a continuation of the technical assistance provided by the Mission to the SEC over the past three years. The Mission most recently supported the SEC in developing an election operational plan in preparation for the upcoming 2020 parliamentary elections.