MANS today addressed the Collegium of the President of the Parliament with a request that this body provide minimum condition for civilized conversation in the Working group which deals with with electoral matters, after I was yesterday attacked, as a representative of MANS, at the meeting of the working body of the DPS’s members of the Parliament, Miodrag Vukovic.
MANS in collaboration with a member of the Working group Azra Jasavic, suggested amendments on a suggestion to the Decision on the Establishment of the Committee for monitoring the implementation of laws and regulation important for building confidence in the electoral process. With amendments we suggested to limit the time needed for the institutions of the Committee to submit requested information, and also that all collected material on work of the Committee proactively publish on the Parliament’s website, and these amendments were accepted.
However, it is obvious that two other amendments bothered Vukovic, two very important amendments that we have suggested, that will be discussed at the next meeting, and will allow the Committee, by visiting institutions, to determine on site how the election regulations are applied, and prescribe the obligation to give opinions on all regulations discussed in the Parliament, which can in any way affect the electoral process.
We are aware that the DPS is primarily bothered by MANS’s participation in this working body, because we so far discovered, documented and reported serious violations of the law by officials of that party. All discovered violations of the law were intended to influence the election results through misuses of state funds, including machinations of social assistance, employment in public administration, granting loans and subventions, but also and the use of other mechanisms of which were discovered in the affair “Snapshot”.
We understand that the DPS is frustrated, because it is a fact that that party is left in minority when it comes to readiness of the Parliament to fight against corruption and organized crime, especially electoral corruption, but that is a reason that the Members of the Parliament from that party try to obstruct the work of the Working group, and to do everything in order not to improve the legal and institutional framework for the prevention of electoral fraud, which would lead to building confidence in the electoral process.
Real political will of this party to fight against electoral corruption is the best reflected in the Draft of the law on financing political parties by the Government led by them, and where is not even a letter about the most serious forms of electoral fraud on which we have pointed out, neither these specific mechanisms for vote buying have been tried to be prevented in any way.
From all mentioned it is clear that the DPS does not have political interest everything to be according to the law, because that is not a setting in which that party learn to function, so they decided to try to adjust the law according to their needs. However, officials of the DPS, including Vukovic, are deeply aware that for such an attempt they do not have allies in any segment of the Montenegrin society, because the electoral corruption established by them to the ground, crumbled citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.
Although the DPS obviously is losing the battle and is left alone in an attempt to legalize the electoral corruption, and therefore has a right to be mad, it must be taken into account the elementary decency in communication and provide basic civility in the work of the Working group, in order to work smoothly while executing tasks that were put before it by the Parliament of Montenegro.
Therefore MANS addressed the Collegium and requested to provide civilized relationship within the Working Group, and as well the conditions for this body to work effectively and constructively in order to obtain the best quality solutions with a goal to prevent political corruption and building confidence in elections.
Vuk Maras
Director of Monitoring Program
