The Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) announced that they submitted initiatives to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) today to initiate proceedings due to the suspicion that the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, violated the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns.
As announced, a special initiative was also filed against Luka Rakčević, candidate for mayor of Podgorica and current deputy mayor.
The Director of the MANS Research Center, Dejan Milovac, indicated that the election list "For a better Podgorica - Jakov Milatović" published a promotional video yesterday that was recorded in the office of the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović.
"After the video was broadcast on the YouTube platform, it was additionally promoted as political marketing on the online portal of one daily newspaper, which was also paid for by the electoral list 'For a better Podgorica – Jakov Milatović'. The Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns in Article 36 explicitly prohibits 'the use of the premises of state bodies, state administration bodies, local self-government bodies... if the same conditions are not provided to all participants in the election process.' , there is a well-founded suspicion that President Milatović violated the law and provided his electoral list with exclusive access to the offices of the presidency," says Milovac.
He reminds that, according to the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns, using the premises of state bodies in a way that violates the equality of all participants in the election process is punishable by a fine of 5.000 to 20.000 euros.
In addition, as he said, the initiative refers to the fact that Milatović was engaged in the promotion of his electoral list during his working hours, that is, he actively participated in the pre-election campaign.
"On September 24, in the morning hours, President Milatović took an active part in the press conference organized by the electoral list 'For a better Podgorica – Jakov Milatović', which violated Article 44, paragraph 4 of the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns, which such behavior of public the official expressly forbids," points out Milovac.
He says that on the same basis, MANS filed an initiative against Rakčević, who "also attended and took an active part in the mentioned media conference".
"What is discouraging is the inability of President Milatović, as the holder of one of the highest positions in the country, to realize that by violating the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns, he is not contributing to restoring citizens' trust in the electoral process, but is promoting himself in the antithesis of everything that his function should represent. We do not recognize this as a decisive step towards the democratization of Montenegro, which is continuously being slowed down by precisely these practices," said Milovac.
He said that the MANS hereby also calls on the KAS to process the initiatives submitted today without delay and thus contribute to the establishment of the rule of law in this area.
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