Institutional advantage of DPS and misuse of state funds in local elections campaign

Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS) presented at the press conference several examples of the misuse of state funds in the election campaign for 2018 local elections, as well as identified indicators of the institutional advantages of candidates of the ruling structures.

“The abuses of state funds in the eve of the forthcoming local elections show that in this election period as well, the mechanisms for winning the elections, as well as leverage for political influence in the field of employment, development of local infrastructure and the payment of social welfare, have been established,” said Ines Mrdović, coordinator of the MANS Investigative Centre. MANS has found that four times more money (€3,565,000) has been spent so far for employment in 2018 election year, than in the entire 2017 (€960,000).

“Employment Agency of Montenegro (ZZZCG) this year rushed to announce applications for various employment programs in January already, while in the past years they were not announced before March,” Mrdović said, explaining that for the Public work programme alone €1,100,000 has been allocated this year, almost twice as much than a year earlier. This is a program that provides short-term employment for persons more difficult to employ. This year, twice as much is also allocated to the self-employment program (€135,000), and €1,500,000 is allocated for employment of persons with disabilities. This program was not launched last year until May. Funds for the training program are also almost doubled in 2018 (€530,000). New project “Empower me” worth €300,000 has been launched, which enables the employment of women with three or more children, who are considered to be particularly socially vulnerable category of population.

Water Supply Program of the Ministry of Agriculture refers to construction of water supply systems in rural areas and represents another mechanism of the ruling party to achieve political advantage. For construction of the local water supply system in the first four months of 2018, the Ministry spent almost ¾ of the annual budget. Half a million Euros was allocated to municipalities where elections are held. It accounts for almost half of the total annual budget.

When it comes to Capital City Podgorica, in the first four months of this year 60% of the annual budget was allocated to the social welfare. According to Mrdović, in that way the permissible consumption of €22,000 per month was exceeded. Thus, in four months, €140,000 was spent, while for the remaining eight there is only €100,000. MANS points out that besides this amount, and according to the decision of Mayor Stijepović, additional €46,000 has been allocated from the budget for payment of social benefits, although it is money that, according to the Law, is intended only for extraordinary circumstances. In this way, a total of 1760 citizens in Podgorica received social benefits in the amount between €60 and €150. MANS warns that by approaching the election period, spending restrictions and the laws cease to be respected, while no one is held accountable for this.

According to OSCE’s conclusions referring to this year’s presidential elections, “a candidate proposed by the ruling party had an institutional advantage”, which, according to the examples pointed out by MANS, is present in DPS election campaign for local elections as well. “A number of examples in this campaign are testimony to the coalescence of the party and the state in Montenegro, among which stand out visit of DPS candidate to the Fire Department, the site for construction of the City Theater, Morača Sports Center and attending an event on the occasion of establishing of the swimming and the water polo club “Budućnost”, said Danilo Kalezić, coordinator of the MANS Parliamentary Programme. He pointed out that in this campaign, for the first time, a concert was organized outside the Parliament of Montenegro, whose official occasion was celebrating the Day of Europe.

Finally, part of the funds of all citizens during the campaign was used for the purpose of carrying out of surveys, in which, inter alia, the political orientation of the citizens was inquired, as well as for leasing of billboards through which the results of the work of the local self-government were promoted. A special aspect of instrumentalisation of institutions is present in promo videos that represent multiple misuses of both budgetary funds and the work of the very institutions for party purposes.

Examples of promo videos: