The Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI) called on the prime minister, ministers and other state officials to "refrain from official campaigning" and thus to "stop jeopardizing the legitimacy of the electoral process and stop previous bad practices", which, as stated, were once and strongly criticized themselves.
As announced by CeMI, with the intensification of the campaign for the upcoming parliamentary elections, the more frequent participation of high state officials in the election campaign, from the state positions they cover, is noticeable.
"Official campaigning is perhaps the most widespread form of abuse of state resources in Montenegro, because politicians ignore the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns due to a poor legal framework that inadequately defines the sanctioning of these abuses," the CeMI press release states.
The organization clarified that, in addition to the "obvious illegal abuse of position and state resources", this type of campaign represents undemocratic behavior of government representatives and the degradation of the electoral process in order to secure an unfair advantage.
They assessed that the current government continues the practice of previous governments, which they once strongly criticized, pointing out that it creates an unattainable institutional advantage for the then ruling Democratic Party of Socialists.
"We note that the officials had enough time to present their achievements to the public, and that in this segment of the campaign that role should be played by the representatives of the paper who are not in office," they pointed out from CeMI.
They point out that, in order to strengthen the democratization of Montenegrin society, there must be a clear distinction between the role of a public official and a political activist, especially during the election process.
"Hereby, we invite the media and citizens to report the official campaign, especially if it takes place during working hours when the same officials should be at their workplaces and if they use state institutions and official cars for the purpose of the campaign. As a society, we must build awareness that this kind of undemocratic behavior is unacceptable and that the election game must be equal for everyone," CeMI concluded.
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