Is the influence of DPS on the Election Commission strengthening?

How many candidates there will be for the presidential elections on March 19 will be known today, and it will depend on the total number of members of the State Election Commission (SEC) and the balance of forces in that body, which is mainly made up of representatives of political representatives.

According to unofficial sources, there are indications that in addition to the representatives of the DPS "on the side" of that party, there will be representatives of some other candidates, when they make key decisions regarding the election process.

According to the Law on the Election of Members of Parliament and Councilors, the determination of candidacy fulfills the conditions for appointing representatives to the expanded composition of the SEC, as well as municipal election commissions (MEC) and electoral bodies.

So far, the candidacy of Milo Đukanović (DPS), Draginja Vuksanović Stanković (SDP), Andrija Mandić (DF) and Goran Danilović (United Montenegro) has been confirmed.

The SEC should also make a statement on the others today, because the 48-hour deadline for checking their documentation is about to expire. These are Jakov Milatović (Europe Now), Aleksa Bečić (Democrats), as well as Jovan Radulović, who was proposed by a group of citizens.

The SEC was supposed to make a statement on the candidacy of Željko Matijašević, but he withdrew his candidacy last night.

Influencer Jovan Radulović submitted his candidacy to the SEC late on Sunday evening, and journalists saw him coming down from the floor where the DPS premises are located.

DPS did not answer the question of "Vijesti" whether this is true.

The SEC currently has 11 permanent members, of which the president of that body, Nikola Mugoša, is a non-partisan person, while one member is from the NGO sector. Of the other members, three are from the DPS, two from the DF, and one representative each from the SNP, the Democrats, the Social Democrats and the Bosniak Party. The third member of the SEC from DF, Milan Marović, resigned at the beginning of February after the Commission's session adopted a decision to request information from the Republican Election Commission of Serbia on whether one of the leaders of DF, Andrija Mandić, and the leader of the Europe Now Movement, Milojko Spajić, the right to vote and reside in Serbia.

In the event that all candidacies are confirmed, the composition of the Commission can be expanded by seven members. This means that the SEC would have a total of 18 members, so at least 10 members would need to vote for a decision.

Đukanović and Mandić have already received representatives in the SEC.

As published on the website of the SEC, Mandić's representative is lawyer Tomica Knežević, and Đukanović's Andrija Radman, also a lawyer and former president of the Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly.

The SEC told "Vijesti" that the authorized representatives of the presidential candidates can participate in the work and make decisions 20 days before the election, and their mandate ends on the day the final election results are determined.

When asked whether the expanded composition of the SEC can complicate decision-making, the representative of the SEC replied that the majority of the total number must vote for decision-making, and a potential problem could be that "if those who are dissatisfied with the election results, do not want to they vote for obvious things”.

The secretary of the Election Commission of the capital and former director of the SNP and the Democrats, Vladimir Vujović, said that the composition of the municipal election commissions (MEC) has not yet been changed where the final results of the local elections have not yet been announced.

Due to constitutional appeals, the election results have not yet been announced in Podgorica, Pljevlja, Plav, while the elections in Savnik have not yet been completed due to the impossibility of holding them at two polling stations.

"The rule is to change the composition of the MEC after the formation of the government, this was not possible here, and the Election Commission of Podgorica is working with the composition chosen by the previous government, and that is how it will wait for the presidential elections," Vujović said.

He explained that although after the election of three judges of the Constitutional Court, he will receive a quorum for work and resolve election complaints, there will not be time to change the composition of the MEC before the presidential elections. Municipal election commissions are important because they collect voting data by municipality and submit it to the SEC, which announces the results.

Danilović's disputed forms are being sent to the Prosecutor's Office today

Today, the SEC will deliver to the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) disputed forms with signatures of support for Goran Danilović, following his claims that data was deleted.

This is what SEC Secretary Nikola Dedeić told "Vijesti".

Officials of the United Montenegro submitted additional signatures to the SEC on Sunday, after that institution determined on Wednesday that 2.269 valid ones were missing. Danilović then said that someone deleted data from the forms with signatures.

Lacmanović: Possibility of misuse of personal data

Representatives of parties that have presidential candidates did not want to comment on the candidacy of influencer Radulović, who asked citizens to support him and provide him with personal information via social networks.

"Everyone who received support for candidacy can participate in the elections and the law is clear. We will not underestimate anyone", DF MP Jovan Vučurović replied to "Vijesta".

Commenting on Radulović's call to citizens, expert in the field of personal data protection Radenko Lacmanović warned of the possibility of misuse of citizens' personal data. "As for the call, I took it lightly, but if they provided him with personal data, it would mean that they gave their consent to the processing of personal data," Lacmanović told "Vijesti".

He warned that a situation could arise in which Radulović, from the databases available to him or in an illegal way, would obtain the unique identity numbers of citizens "which have otherwise been compromised long ago and which are easy to obtain", that he would use and fill in these data himself forms and thus make them legally valid.

"As for the signatures themselves, that is another matter, a signature can also be personal information, but it is a different procedure, where graphologists determine whether the signature is authentic or not. This is about the conscious abuse of easily accessible personal data of citizens, especially identification numbers, and this certainly represents a violation not only of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data, but also of other international and domestic regulations, for which whoever does this could be held criminally liable." , said Lacmanović, who was a member of the Council of the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data (AZZLP).

The Agency announced that today it will answer the questions of "Vijesti" regarding Radulović's call to the citizens.