In accordance with the legal requirements, within 60 days after the Election Day in the Municipality of Tivat, the Agency for Prevention of Corruption adopted the Report on the supervision conducted during the campaign for the election of councillors in the Municipality of Tivat and the control exercised over the financing of the campaigns of the political entities. 

The Law on financing of political entities and election campaigns prescribes obligations, restrictions and prohibitions for public authorities, political entities and the Agency, during an election campaign, and one month following the Election Day. This Law stipulates that the Agency exercises control over the funding of political entities and election campaigns, and supervision over the implementation of legal provisions.

The obligations prescribed by this Law can be divided into the ones concerning the financing of political entities during election campaign, and the ones concerning the transparent use of public resources during election campaign.

As regards the financing of political entities in the election campaign, the Agency has found that political actors met the legal requirements, such as, among other, submission of  reports on the contributions made by legal and natural persons, reports on the origin, structure and amount of funds raised and spent for the campaign, and transparent payment of media advertising. The Agency has also found that the campaign participants did not receive campaign contributions from legal and natural persons that are prohibited by law to donate funds to political entities.

With respect to the use of public resources during the campaign, the supervision largely comprised of the monitoring over the implementation of reporting obligations and publishing of information that authorities are obliged to do weekly and fortnightly. The Agency's proactive approach has provided for a full transparency of the use of public resource, as prescribed by the Law on financing political entities and election campaigns. All required reports and analytical cards are available to the public on the websites of the respective authorities.

Moreover, the Agency has monitored observance of a number of prohibitions and restrictions, such as, among others, the prohibition on applying pressure in the collection of contributions, prohibition on the use of public resources and distribution of promotional material to the authorities, prohibition regarding the monthly expenditure, prohibition on the use of official cars, prohibition on employment in an unlawful manner, and other. The Agency has acted upon all received complaints.

The Report on the supervision and control over the operations of political entities and authorities during the election campaign for the elections in Tivat also contains recommendations that point out to the perceived shortcomings of the legal provisions governing the supervision and control over the financing of election campaigns, as well as the activities planned to be implemented in order to provide for full implementation of the Law in the coming period. All data obtained by the Agency, analysis and recommendations are available in the integral text of the report.

The election campaign and the elections in Tivat were the first opportunity for the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, which began operations on January 1, 2016, to implement the provisions of the Law on financing of political entities and election campaigns (adopted in December 2014). By taking an active and responsible approach, the Agency has strengthened its capacity, contributed to the full implementation of applicable provisions, transparency of the political entities and use of public resources in the election campaign, and, thus, to boosting confidence in the election system.

Along with the adoption of this Report, the director of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption issued the Decision on the establishment and tasks of the working group for monitoring of the elections of the MPs to the Parliament of Montenegro, to be held in October 2016. The first meeting of the team, comprised of 25 employees of the Agency, was dedicated to informing of the team members on the activities during the campaign.

Adoption of the plan of control and supervision, prescribing the duties of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption during the election campaign for parliamentary elections, was announced at the meeting. The plan will include the calendar of the obligations of political entities and the authorities during the election campaign, with deadlines for their fulfilment. Once drafted and adopted by the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, the plan will be available to the public.