Statement from the Government that there is no money now for enforcement of the Law of the electoral roll and the Law on Election of Deputies and the Members of the Parliament, once again show chronic lack of political will for Montenegro to start to function as legal state when it comes to the election processes.
After almost complete suspension of the Law on Financing of Political Parties which suppose to prevent many abuses of public funds in political purposes, and synchronized actions of authorized election commissions to make meaningless control of the electoral process, the Government now, by denying funds for implementation of the law, tries to actually cover up specific cases of electoral corruption and de facto saves the system and the mechanisms of abuses so they could be used for some future elections.
In s situation where annually from the state budget hundreds of millions of euros are spilled on dealing with the consequences of ad privatization process, the Government claims that it’s missing 1,4 million euros to quality escort implementation of the law which is crucial for building confidence in the electoral process.
There are many reasons that point to the indisputable need that the application of these laws is under the strict control, when it comes to updating the electoral roll, and as well when it comes to specific election procedures regulated by the Law on Election of Deputies and the Members of the Parliament.
MANS has, so far, many times showed and proved that the electoral roll is full of irregularities, which demonstrated and the last local elections, and in that terms there is more than obvious need this area to be under additional control. That is even more obvious when it comes to implementation of the Law on Election of Deputies and the Members of the Parliament, and that showed the election day itself, when MANS’s observers registered over 800 specific irregularities only in Podgorica.
In that regard, it is obvious that is continuing obstruction of the key mechanisms which should ensure that in Montenegro elections are not stolen any more, with massive misuse of public funds and brutal violations of citizens’ rights to freely elect their representatives.
Despite the obvious obstructions, and excess pressure on MANS from different levels and from different subjects, we will absolutely continue to investigate political corruption and to request Montenegro to be regulated society of free citizens who are free to make political choice.
MANS
