(Podgorica, 5 April 2013) – The latest recordings of DPS sessions that were today released by the daily DAN demonstrate the real reasons that the Minister of Internal Affairs, Rasko Konjevic, doesn’t plan to carry out oversight investigations in order to establish the existence of irregularities in the Electoral List. MANS has prepared nearly 7000 complaints on this account, which were submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) by both candidates.
In fact, today it was revealed that one of the most senior DPS officials, current cabinet minister Branimir Gvozdenovic, declared at the above meeting of that party that they should update the electoral rolls in a way that would suit the interests of this party. This further proves everything that MANS has been claiming for months; that the electoral rolls and voter laws are being manipulated by the ruling coalition in order to affect the election results of their party and candidates. We have noted that the electoral list contains thousands of questionable entries and duplicates, while a significant number of individuals who have the right to vote were illegally erased from the Electoral List because they aren’t ruling-party voters. Similarly, the current Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic declared that new ID cards should be distributed to DPS voters in order to ensure that they can vote during these elections, as opposed to opposition voters. He also spoke of ways to trick the European Union (EU), which has insisted on the legal carrying out of elections.
This is precisely the key reason that Konjevic does not want to complete oversight investigations into the voter list on the basis of the complaints received (even though he is required to do so by law). By doing so properly, he would have to uncover the DPS plan to ensure that the elections are held under suspicious circumstances, which benefit the ruling party and tend to favour its presidential candidate.
If institutions in Montenegro were truly independent, all MUP employees would be engaged in verifying the legality of the Electoral Lists, while Djukanovic and Gvozdenovic – along with all senior officials in the ruling coalition that participated in the falsification of the electoral list and the denial of the right to vote of citizens loyal to opposition parties – would be answering to the police and prosecutors.
For this reason, we once again call on Konjevic to implement Montenegro’s laws and to investigate all irregularities in the Electoral List. He should also immediately order the police to uncover who is responsible for organizing the criminal pyramid in charge of brutally falsifying the Electoral Lists. If he fails to do so, he should immediately tender his resignation.
