Agency for Prevention of Corruption

Data on the supervision over the implementation of obligations under the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Electoral Campaigns published

Oct. 6, 2017

The Agency for the Prevention of Corruption supervises the implementation of the provisions of the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Electoral Campaigns, especially those related to the restriction on the use of public funds, the transparency of social benefits, the transparency of budget expenditures, the use of official cars and the restriction on employment, i.e. the ban on engaging employees in election campaign.

An election campaign covers a period from the calling to the holding of the election, that is, in the case of election for councilors for the Municipal Assemblies of Mojkovac and Petnjica and the Assembly of the Royal Capital of Cetinje, the period from September 26 - November 26, and for the Municipal Assembly of Tuzi, a municipality within the Capital City, the period from September 7 - November 26.

In this regard, in order to improve the transparency in the fulfillment of authorities’ obligations in the election campaign, i.e. the transparency in the use of public resources in the election campaign, the Agency continuously publishes all information related to the implementation of the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns, including a detailed tabular presentation of the fulfillment of the provisions of the Law relating to the transparency of budget spending, social benefits, the use of official vehicles and employment in government bodies, i.e. the reporting obligations of political entities.

A total of 42 budget spending units are obliged to publish analytical cards on a seven-day basis, every Wednesday, from all accounts held in their possession in order to monitor budget spending. In the period from September 7 to October 4, all entities fulfilled this legal obligation, i.e. 19 analytic cards were published, since municipalities publish the spending of all of their budget units in their analytical cards.

Transparency of social welfare payments is provided through a fifteen-day report to be filed to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the municipalities where elections are held.

Thus, in the territory of the municipality of Tuzi, a municipality within the Capital City, in the period from 7 - 27 September, according to the Ministry report, total social welfare payments disbursed amounted to € 106,629.88 (no one-time social welfare payment for the Municipality of Tuzi), or € 150, based on the report of the Municipality. The second fifteen-day reporting period for the Ministry and municipalities is in progress, which includes the municipalities of Mojkovac, Cetinje and Petnjica, in addition to the municipality of Tuzi, a municipality within the Capital City.

Transparency in the use of budgetary reserves and budgetary expenditures is provided through fifteen-day reports from the Ministry of Finance and municipalities where elections are held. Thus, in the period from 7-27 September, a total of € 756,924.34 were disbursed from the budget reserve to all the users of the Budget of Montenegro, while the Municipality of Tuzi, a municipality within the Capital City, does not have a budget reserve or the local treasury, and therefore, has no spending on such bases. The second fifteen-day reporting period for the Ministry and municipalities is in progress.

When it comes to the transparency in the use of official cars during the election campaign, 63 authorities in the territories of the municipalities of Mojkovac, Petnjica, the Royal Capital of Cetinje and the Municipality of Tuzi, a municipality within the Capital City, have the obligation to report, i.e. publicize issued travel orders every seventh day. Thus, in the period from September 7 to October 4, a total of 126 travel orders were published and submitted. Also, until October 4, through the control conducted, it was found that 23 entities do not possess an official car.

In the previous period, there were reports and controls of ten recruitments in the territory of the municipality of Tuzi, a municipality within the Capital City, and the municipality of Mojkovac or the Royal Capital of Cetinje. All employment contracts are concluded for a fixed term. The Agency has checked the entire supporting documentation and in these concrete cases found it to be in compliance with the provisions of the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns.

When it comes to political entities, five of them submitted a notice of open gyro accounts in the reporting period and a person responsible for the purposeful spending of the funds. Thus, the Democratic Party of Socialists, the Social Democrats and the Social Democratic Party opened separate accounts for all elections; Democratic Montenegro opened a gyro account for all elections, while the Democratic Union of Albanians opened a gyro account only for the elections in the Municipality of Tuzi, a municipality within the Capital City.

On this occasion, the Agency wishes to inform political entities of the requirement for them to open gyro accounts and designate a person responsible for the election campaign and to inform the Agency thereof, bearing in mind that the collection of funds and all payments of election campaign expenses are carried through such accounts. As media advertising or field activities are actually the beginning of an election campaign of a political entity, these activities must be accompanied by the opening of a special account, so that the Agency could exercise control over the financing of election campaigns.

The Agency controls the submitted documentation, and also performs field controls and direct insight into the documentation of government authorities and political entities, and acts upon the submitted complaints. In cases of irregularities identified, it will initiate misdemeanor procedures and take other measures within its jurisdiction.