According to data submitted by state institutions to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC), during the campaign for this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections, nearly 6,300 people have been employed in the state administration, and the total number of contracts concluded by June 1 exceeded 12,000.
Official data on employment during the election campaigns analysed by MANS show that more than half of the contracts were concluded for a fixed period of time, close to 30% refer to temporary employment contracts, 8% to contracts on supplementary work, while the rest are other types of work contracts.
Out of all concluded contracts, 45% of them related to hiring of persons for a period of one month, only 5% of contracts were concluded for a period of two to six months, around 4% for an indefinite duration, while 44% of contracts refer to a specific activity, without a defined duration time.
More than half of the concluded contracts refer to the employment of persons in the field of education, thus, 3,250 persons have established some sort of employment relationship in educational institutions since the beginning of the campaign. Individually, the highest number of contracts was concluded by the preschool institution “Đina Vrbica”, as many as 217. In the education sector, during the election campaign, employment was most often based on fixed-term contracts (49% of all contracts), and for a period of one month (43% of all contracts).
In second place in terms of the number of concluded contracts is the healthcare sector, where 1,076 people found employment during the election campaign, through the conclusion of 1,477 contracts. Individually, the Clinical Centre of Montenegro hired the most people, 280. For the period since the beginning of the election campaigns this year, the Clinical Centre concluded 318 contracts, mostly on a fixed-term basis. Apart from the Clinical Centre, a large number of contracts were concluded with General Hospital Kotor (141) and General Hospital Bijelo Polje (128).
When it comes to municipalities that submitted data on employment to APC during the election campaigns, 668 persons were employed through the conclusion of 873 contracts. In terms of the number of hired people and concluded contracts, the Public Library of Budva is in the lead, which employed 46 people through 57 contracts, followed by the Protection and Rescue Service Nikšić with 45 contracts, the Municipality of Nikšić with 44 contracts, and the Nikšić Theatre with 39.
433 persons have been employed in various state administrations through 509 contracts since the beginning of the year, and the largest number of contracts were concluded by Monstat (144) and the Forestry Administration (103), followed by the Administration for Inspection Affairs (92) and the Institute for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions (59).
Since the beginning of the election campaigns this year, 291 people have been employed in the culture sector through the conclusion of 477 contracts. The largest number of concluded contracts was with the Music Centre of Montenegro (209 contracts), followed by Herceg Fest (124) and the Montenegrin National Theatre (64).
When it comes to ministries, since the beginning of the campaign, a total of 264 contracts have been signed, through which 235 people have been hired. The largest number of contracts was concluded by the Ministry of Defence (47 contracts), followed by the Ministry of Public Administration (43) and the Ministry of European Affairs (24).
Although the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns imposes restrictions on employment during the election campaign, official data show that there has been no deviation from the practice established by the former government, and that there is still room for suspicion that employment in exchange for votes is still being used as a mechanism of pressure on voters.
This number of concluded employment contracts in just a few months of election campaigns for the presidential and parliamentary elections testifies to the complete absence of any meritocracy, but also the capacity of competent institutions to limit the arbitrariness of parties that make up the executive power in their intention of misusing state resources.
Complete data on employment in the state administration during the campaign for presidential and parliamentary elections is available at:
Predizborno zapošljavanje – Podaci ASK-a
MANS
