Electoral Rules
On 25 October 1918 in Berane, the city of one of the committee's members, the committee decided to schedule a nation-wide election with new election laws created by the Central Executive Committee for Unification of Serbia and Montenegro. 165 members were elected to form a parliament called the "Great People's Assembly of the Serbian People in Montenegro" to decide about the form and process of unification of Montenegro with Serbia, as well as the rules of its election.
The people chose electors by secret ballot, who would subsequently nominate the assembly.
- Each captaincy elected 10 electors
- Each district (newly-gained unrepresented territories from the Balkan Wars) elected 15 electors
- Each town below 5,000 residents (Bar, Ulcinj, Kolašin, Berane and Bijelo Polje) elected 5 electors and cities with 5,000 or more citizens (Cetinje, Podgorica, Pljevlja, Peć and Đakovica) elected 10 electors
The electors were the democratic holders of the national vote from the people, but they were supposed to elect the Members of the Parliament themselves in order to secure the balance and equally represent all levels of the community by profession, religious determination and ethnic affiliation.
Every male Montenegrin aged 25 or more had the right to be elected into the Parliament:
- Two MPs were to be elected from each captaincy
- Three MPS from every district
- One MP from every town and
- Two MPs from every city
During the Paris Peace Conference, Nicholas I's representative and future prime minister of Montenegro (de jure) General Gvozdenović attacked this election law: "Mere villages had been permitted to elect four deputies, while entire districts had only sent one or two representatives". Other problems with the election were that voting was made without the voters' lists, and that the Serbian army didn't allow the opponents of union to enter Montenegro before elections ended
Read more about this topic: Podgorica Assembly
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