A month before the parliamentary elections, it is certain that, due to coronavirus situation, a good part of the pre-election campaign of political parties will shift its focus from the fieldwork to the Internet. The analysis made by the MANS Investigative Centre shows that the ruling DPS, even in this situation, does not give up the so-called institutional advantage.
Only two days after the Government of Montenegro presented the third package of socio-economic measures, a promotional video appeared on DPS’ Facebook page where the official logo of the Government was replaced by the party logo of DPS.
DPS logo is now on the entire presentation in which the Government promises financial support to tourism, agriculture and fishing industry, as well as support to particularly vulnerable groups of the population, with a total value of over €1.2 billion. The same goes with the opening and closing credits, where it is not mentioned that these are measures of the Government of Montenegro and money from the budget.
That this practice is no exception is also shown by the social media pages of the municipal boards of DPS, which have been advertising development projects at the local level as their own since the beginning of the campaign.
Thus, the municipal board of DPS Bijelo Polje, on its Instagram page and with DPS logo, promoted the recent visit of the Prime Minister Duško Marković, and the announcement of future development projects in that town.
In the same way, the municipal board in Danilovgrad, with the inevitable DPS logo, promoted an investment in the town stadium worth € 1.2 million, while for that town, DPS Youth Council advertised reconstruction of the bridge, worth over one million Euros, as its party’s investment.
In Mojkovac, DPS promoted the construction of a regional road to Berane, while in Pljevlja the construction of a kindergarten worth over one million Euros was promoted.
When it comes to Capital City, several local public officials, including the Mayor himself, Ivan Vuković, promoted projects that were financed with money from all citizens of Podgorica on the Instagram profile of that municipal board under DPS logo.
The same situation is in the south of the country, where the municipal board of DPS Kotor promoted the installation of children’s playgrounds at several locations in the town, while DPS logo was also found on post on reconstruction of the old prison, worth €1.6 million.
Judging by the advertisement on Instagram page of the party’s Youth Council, citizens should be grateful to DPS for installing public lighting in Ulcinj.
In Herceg Novi, local DPS took the credit for the construction of a kindergarten worth € 2.4 million, but also for bringing in private investors who are investing in that town.
MANS points out that there is no doubt that this is a shameless abuse of the so-called institutional advantage ahead of the upcoming elections.
Use of projects financed from the budget and money of all Montenegrin citizens to promote only one party and gain an advantage on the ground reaffirms the conclusions of the OSCE observation mission after the last parliamentary elections, which highlight particularly this type of abuse.
MANS notes that this type of DPS campaign, especially in the situation of the still active coronavirus epidemic, and limited space for the field campaign, puts other participants in the election process in an unequal position.
MANS
