The negative election campaign is a consequence of the fear of competition, the weakness of the candidates and the strength of the political conflict between the participants in the election game.
That is, among other things, a summary of the professor's comments Nikolete Đukanović to the question of "Vijesti" regarding whether distorting the facts in a political campaign is a legitimate political tool, whether it is regular for the head of state to do so, even making false accusations that his opponent is responsible for the destruction of human lives...
President of Montenegro and candidate of the Democratic Party of Socialists Milo Djukanovic, two evenings ago at the forum in Lozna Luka, Bielopolis, made harsh accusations against the opponent in the presidential elections Jakov Milatović, stating that he was "destroying people's lives".
"Maybe you really got good grades, but one can see what you did - that you shut down companies starting with 'Montenegro Airlines', chased away investors, starting with Amman, turned the best parts of the Montenegrin coast into pure flea markets, such as Kraljičina plaža, destroyed people's lives. So, together with the government you belonged to, you refused donations of vaccines against covid when there was no vaccine in Montenegro... You refused them because you didn't like the donor, because you recognized the donor as a political opponent and you neglected people's lives. Unfortunately, you have brought Montenegro to the top of the world when it comes to mortality from covid. You can think how many people died who should not have died," said Đukanović.
The leader of DPS thereby alluded to the refusal of the former government, in which Milatović was Minister of Economic Development, to accept vaccine donations from businessmen in 2020, during the covid epidemic. Petrosa Statisa. Government and the Ministry of Health, which she led at the time Jelena Borovinić Bojović, explained at the time that due to quality control precautions, they cooperate exclusively with vaccine manufacturers and the governments of countries involved in their development. Statis, a partner of the former DPS government, offered vaccines through Đukanović.
Borovinić Bojović she told ”Vijesti” yesterday that Đukanović testified again that his moral compasses were damaged as a politician.
"The accusations that he made both directly and indirectly against the 42nd government... are scandalous, but it is an already seen attempt to manipulate a political desperado. Đukanović was the only one in Montenegro who did not realize that the times when he could impose his accusations through the brutal abuse of political topics are long gone. "No one in Montenegro falls for his transparent replacements of theses and falsehoods," said the former minister.
She states that Đukanović's accusations have been denied dozens of times. "And he was largely denied even by the donors he refers to. Only he behaves "uninformed", and it should not be ruled out that he really is not informed because he spends most of his time outside his country, far and long since alienated from his people and their needs. How much he devastated all resources with his clique, the citizens know better than him, just as they also know how much they have been restored by our work and effort," said Borovinić Bojović.
Nikoleta Đukanović states that almost all election cycles were characterized by a negative campaign, the reason for which is that Montenegro has not yet been built into a liberal democracy, and that the most common causes are fear of competition, weakness of its own candidates...
"A particularly important issue is the ethical (un)justification of such a campaign. In modern democracies, candidates and parties that use negative campaign methods often lose elections. That is, a negative election campaign, which is based on untrue data and slander, will not be useful for candidates and parties, nor for society as a whole", said Professor Đukanović.
On several occasions, including in Lozna Luka, Milo Đukanović accused Milatović and most of the participants of the first election round of working for the Greater Serbia project and receiving money for it. Activists and officials of the DPS daily disseminate information that the candidate of the Evroap Movement is now working for the interests of Serbia, even mentioning the extreme leader of the Serbian Radical Party. Vojislav Seselj.
Answering the question of whether the head of state in the campaign shows that Serbia is a "scarecrow" with which he scares voters and what kind of message he sends to those who declare themselves as Serbs, Nkoleta Đukanović said that Serbia is not a scarecrow, but that Vučić's group, which has a strong foothold in Montenegro, represents a danger to the preservation of the civil pro-European being in Montenegro.
A narrative that can help in the face of certain defeat
Political analyst from Serbia Dušan Lj. Milenkovic said that it is a legitimate political campaign to use the "specter of Serbia and Russia", stating that in the radical phase of nationalism one is always looking for an external enemy, but that this does not bring anything good to societies.
Is lying, distortion of facts, a legitimate political tool in a political campaign?
Both lies and fraud in politics can go unpunished, and that is precisely why the quality of a country's political culture is measured, among other things, by how often and successfully members of the political community punish the lies and fraud of politicians. The election campaign is not an exception, but it is an advantage of the election campaign that the opportunity for such punishment is systematically offered in the form of voting day.
Is it regular for the current head of state to do this and is it ethical and moral, especially to accuse someone of being responsible for human lives?
I think it is too optimistic to expect knightly morality in political races, especially when the race threatens to result in tectonic changes in a political community that has had the same ruler for 30 years. I mean, the question is not whether it is moral, but only the outcome of such rhetoric and whether it helps or retaliates to the one who is used by such propaganda.
Does Đukanović show in the campaign that Serbia is a "scarecrow" with which he scares the voters and what kind of message does he send to those who identify themselves as Serbs?
Mr. Đukanović clings to the only narrative that can help him in the unenviable situation he found himself in - facing an almost certain defeat. He has been using Serbia as an "other" for more than two decades in order to mobilize and strengthen his electorate, the so-called. "gathering around the flag". Now it is entering a radical phase, because it is facing defeat, and before defeat every nationalism is radicalized even more to the right, including Đukanović's. In the radical phase of nationalism, one is always looking for an external enemy, as well as a domestic traitor and a foreign mercenary. Just as some nationalists, led by Vučić, build the specter of Western countries and their branches, agents and mercenaries in Serbia, so in Montenegro Đukanović built the specter of Serbia, Russia, and their branches, agents and mercenaries.
It is a legitimate political campaign, although I think it is disastrous for the societies in which it is carried out... There is a huge number of people living in Montenegro who identify with Serbia. Đukanović knows this, but still chooses a strategy that will antagonize that group of people, and create even greater divisions in Montenegrin society, with far-reaching consequences.
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