BIRODI: Đukanović was portrayed negatively on television in Serbia, Milatović was marginalized

The current President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, who won 35,3 percent of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections according to the preliminary results of the Center for Democratic Transition and passed to the second round of the presidential elections, was negatively presented on television in Serbia with a national frequency.

The candidate of the Movement Europe now, Jakov Milatović, who according to the same results won 28,9 percent and also passed to the second round of the same television stations, is "marginalized", according to the research of the Bureau of Social Research (BIRODI), the results of which were presented in Belgrade.

Based on the monitoring of Radio-Television Serbia, Pink, Hepi, Prva and B92 from the announcement of the election on January 16 until the beginning of the election silence on March 17, BIRODI states that Đukanović is "connected with anti-Serbism, negative relations towards the Serbian Orthodox Church, crime, corruption, long and undemocratic rule with the support of the West".

Along with Đukanović, the most space was given to the candidate who did not make it to the second round, Andrija Mandić, who was presented in a positive way, as a "Serbian candidate" and as a candidate who insists on reconciliation at the level of Montenegro.

According to the research, on televisions that presented Đukanović negatively and Mandić positively, the most represented actors were "pro-government and pro-right analysts who in a large number of cases did not have expertise in the field of elections", while some of them were actively involved in the campaigns of presidential candidates in Montenegro, without the journalists announcing it.

Other candidates, according to BIRODI, have been marginalized, including Jakov Milatović, who some studies say has a greater potential to defeat Milo Đukanović in the second round.

BIRODI adds that Milatović was attributed "non-cooperation regarding the common candidate and unwillingness to publicly say that he will support Mandić in the second round".

BIRODI recommended to the Regulatory Body of Electronic Media of Serbia (REM) to establish reporting monitoring before the second election round of the presidential elections, and it also recommends this to the Media Agency of Montenegro.

The second round of presidential elections will be held on April 2.