The system of monitoring the work of the media during the election campaign for the President of Montenegro is not functioning. We invite the Assembly of Montenegro to form a Committee for monitoring and supervising the implementation of the provisions of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament and thereby ensure equal application of the law to all media and candidates.
The deputy head of the mission in front of CeMI, Maja Milikic, said that the legal regulations have not been implemented and as such weaken the efforts of competent institutions to react in a timely manner and prevent irregularities in the part of political promotional activities in the Montenegrin media.
"Although we welcome the proactive approach of the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM) and the decision to publish for the first time a preliminary media monitoring report, which accurately shows the representation of individual candidates in the media, and make it available to the public, this is not enough to ensure equal representation of all candidates Milikic said.
According to her, the current legal regulations make it impossible for competent institutions, including AEM, to react in a timely manner and sanction those who violate the law.
"One of the examples is the decision of several Montenegrin television stations to participate in the provision of services to presidential candidates, but without previously adopted regulations, contrary to the law. Two televisions, Srpska TV and Jadran, are leading in this," said Milikic.
She pointed out that, despite this, there is a noticeable increase in hidden advertising, that is, promotional activities without legally prescribed characteristics, "which are mostly carried out in daily news broadcasts".
"Committee for monitoring and supervising the application of the provisions of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, in the part of the obligation of the media in the pre-election campaign, which the Parliament of Montenegro was obliged to form, in accordance with Article 64b of the same law, and which also applies to presidential elections , has not been established," Milikic reminded.
The essence of his action, as she clarified, was to enable full and equal representation of all candidates and to regulate in a timely manner according to the competent institutions, in such cases.
"Given that the supervisory system has not been established, that is, it does not function, we call on political decision-makers to react and ensure the equal application of the law towards all media and candidates, so that those who fully comply with legal procedures are not put in an unequal position." , Milikic said.
She also warned that this is another indicator that we need to change the election laws as soon as possible.