More than a quarter of the candidates for councilors from the list "For the Future of Nikšić" (ZBNK), led by the former Democratic Front (DF), manage and work in state-owned energy companies.
This is shown by data from their biographies, which were published on the coalition's website.
Of the 41 candidates on the list, 11 are in one of the state-owned energy companies, which, expressed in percentages, amounts to 26,82 percent of the list.
The most famous among them is the President of the Board of Directors of the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG) Milutin Djukanovic (New Serbian Democracy - NSD), which is last on the list.
Its leadership includes members of the Board of Directors of EPCG Solar Construction Zoran Colaković (sixth on the list), as well as employees of the Montenegrin Electricity Distribution System (CEDIS) Milutin Jovanovic (ninth on the list). Both are members of the Democratic People's Party (DNP).
Places on the list also went to the President of the Board of Directors of the Montenegrin Electricity Market Operator (COTEE) and the leader of the Workers' Party Maksim Vučinić (twelfth), an employee of EPCG in the position of data processing operator in the Human Resources Directorate and a representative of the Socialist People's Party (SNP) Nemanja Lalić (thirteenth), member of the Board of Directors of EPCG-Željezari and officer for relations and communication with RES consumers (renewable energy sources) Marko Vucinić (seventeenth), as well as an employee of EPCG and a councilor of the NSD Nikola Goranović (eighteenth).
Candidates for ZBNK councilors are also an expert associate for socially responsible business at EPCG and a representative of NSD Stefani Eraković (24th on the list), employed in the Public Procurement Directorate of that company (as a specialist for coordination and operational support) and representative of DNP Andrijana Vučinić Dubljević (35.), as well as Aleksandar Vujović (30.) from NSD-a i Aleksa Kankaraš (23.) from SNP, who are also employed by EPCG. Vujović works as an archivist in that company.
The ZBNK coalition consists of the NSD Andrije Mandić, DNP Milan Knežević, SNP, United Montenegro, Workers' Party, Free Montenegro, True Montenegro and Yugoslav Communist Party.
State-owned enterprises as private companies
Director of Action for Social Justice (ASP) Ines Mrdovic, assessed that the parties of the former DF are very aware of how important it is to have influence in the management structures of energy companies, because, she says, this contributes to strengthening party influence "which is most often valorized on election day."
Unlike during the period of rule by the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), EPCG's power today, she claims, is greater than ever, because, she says, since the fall of that party's government, two new subsidiaries of the company, headquartered in Nikšić, have been established: EPCG Solar and EPCG-Željezara.
He adds that even in socialist Yugoslavia it was a privilege to get a job at EPCG, a company that was then a single enterprise, and that "in the Montenegrin partitocracy, this gains additional importance."
"In political terms, energy companies not only provide the possibility of direct party influence through the possibility of employing party-affiliated individuals, but also indirect nepotism and clientelism. Namely, it is known that in our society, state-owned companies or public institutions are viewed almost as private companies by a good portion of their employees, i.e. if, for example, your father is an electrical engineer at EPCG, he naturally believes that his son must get a job at EPCG and inherit it, especially if he graduated from the same faculty," Mrdović told "Vijesti", adding that it has been "a vicious circle for years."
The interviewee reminds us that control of the energy sector also brings the possibility of providing various jobs, scholarships, training, etc., all of which, according to her, are certain types of influence that can be highly appreciated on election day.
"In any case, there is no doubt that the parties are very aware that it is better to have influence in management structures than not to have it, especially when it comes to EPCG," the ASP director concluded.
Employment based on party merit?
Part of the public accuses the parties of the former DF of abusing the energy sector to employ their members, saying that they are thus collapsing that part of the system.
Former Director of EPCG Solar Construction Valerija Saveljic (Civil Movement URA), claimed that more than 70 percent of the employees in that company were NSD employees, and that some of them were hired by the President of the Board of Directors of EPCG.
"Milutin Đukanović told me at the time that he had employed about ten or a tenth of the employees at Solar Gradnja, who did not have any qualifications, but that he had an obligation because they were under tents during the protests (of the former DF - ed. author's note)," she stated in the documentary film by Television "Vijesti" - "Target: A Kinsman's State", broadcast in November last year.
In that documentary, Đukanović denied Saveljić's claims.
"Of course that's not true. So ten of them were under the tents. Well, people, I really can't stoop to that level. I sincerely hope that the people who were under the tents are employed, but if I knew, if I were now: 'Well, you were under the tent, you should climb onto the roof' - it's pointless to talk about that...", he said.
The elections in Nikšić are scheduled for Sunday (April 13th), and ten lists are participating.
In addition to ZBNK, the coalition will also include the Democrats, who are running with the citizens' group "Plenum 083", and the European Alliance, which consists of the Social Democratic Party, the Social Democrats and the Liberal Party (LP).
The DPS, the Europe Now Movement, the Civic Movement URA, and the Party of European Progress decided to stand alone.
Voters in Nikšić will also be able to choose from three civic lists: "Work for my city - Dr. Borislav Mićo Đurišić", "Let's wake up Nikšić - Dragoljub Dragan Radulović" and "For a libertarian Nikšić of equal opportunities", led by the former president of the Nikšić LP committee. Jelena Marković.
In the previous elections in the town under Trebjes, held in March 2021, the ZBNK coalition won 11 seats, the list "Peace is our nation - round off freedom" led by the Democrats won 10, and the Civic Movement URA won one.
These three lists came to power in Nikšić, while the DPS went into opposition.
These were the first elections since August 30, 2020, which ousted their three-decade-long government.
The list includes school directors, TO, theaters...
Among the candidates for ZBNK councilors are elementary school principals, as well as employees of the Health Center and the Nikšić Hospital.
The candidate is the first man of Nikšić and NSD MP Marko Kovačević, and the list also includes other local officials such as the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality Zoran Tomić (SNP), the Director of the Tourist Organization (TO) Mitar Barać (SNP), i.e. the theater Radinko Krulanović, as well as the Chief of Staff of the President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mirko Miličić.
Bonus video:
