In response to the statement issued by a group of non-governmental organisations that supported the candidacy of Savo Šofranac for a seat on the RTV Podgorica Council, we, representatives of the 12 non-governmental organisations that supported the candidacy of Nataša Nelević, consider it necessary to inform the public of the facts that were omitted or inaccurately presented in that statement.
First, the previous statement issued by our NGOs was duly signed and was not presented as the position of Montenegro’s entire non-governmental sector. The claim that we attempted to present ourselves as the voice of “civil society as a whole” is unfounded and represents an attempt to divert attention from the substance of the dispute.
Second, Savo Šofranac’s candidacy was rejected because his documentation was incomplete, specifically due to the absence of certificates of residence and citizenship, which were prescribed by the Public Call as mandatory supporting documents. This is not our assessment, but the finding of the Committee for Elections and Appointments itself, which determined in its decision that the candidacies of Savo Šofranac and Danilo Milić did not meet the basic requirements of the Public Call, while the applications of Nataša Nelević and Stojan Sjekloća were found to be complete and submitted within the prescribed deadline. This leads to the key fact omitted from the statement signed by 17 NGOs: Šofranac never became an official candidate before the Committee. The number of non-governmental organisations that proposed or supported such a candidate is legally irrelevant, as the criterion concerning the number of supporting organisations can be applied only to candidates whose applications have passed the formal eligibility review. Šofranac did not pass that review. The only candidates whose applications the Committee could consider on the merits were Nataša Nelević, supported by 12 NGOs, and Stojan Sjekloća, supported by three NGOs. Of the only two legally relevant candidates, Nataša Nelević had the greater support and, pursuant to Article 34 of the Decision on the Establishment of RTV Podgorica, the Committee was obliged to confirm her candidacy. Invoking the figure of 17 NGOs that allegedly legitimately supported Šofranac is not a relevant legal argument, but an attempt to use numbers to conceal the fact that their candidate failed to meet even the basic formal requirements necessary for his application to be considered.
Third, we reject the allegations that Nataša Nelević has a conflict of interest and that she is “the candidate of the Chair of the Board of Directors of Vijesti”, Željko Ivanović, which seek to discredit her and portray her as a person lacking integrity. Such allegations are unsubstantiated, sweeping and clearly malicious. Nataša Nelević is solely the candidate of the group of organisations that nominated her. We call on the organisations that signed the statement to substantiate their allegation with concrete evidence or to publicly withdraw it and apologise to Nataša Nelević.
Fourth, repeating the Public Call instead of correcting an obvious error would constitute an abuse of office and an admission that the Committee is incapable of applying its own rules. Such a decision would further damage Montenegro’s reputation at a time when institutions are expected to consistently apply the procedures that guarantee the independence of public media councils, rather than unlawfully reshaping those procedures in pursuit of political dominance.
We have also informed the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro of all the above, drawing attention to the intention of councillors from the ruling majority (PES, Democratic Montenegro, the Movement for Podgorica and DNP) to prevent, contrary to the applicable procedure, the selection of a candidate who met all the requirements and was nominated by the largest number of non-governmental organisations. We recall that the ruling majority also unjustifiably blocked for months the appointment of NGO candidate Duško Vuković to the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services, while the appointment of two civil society candidates to the Council of RTCG continues to be obstructed. This sustained pattern of obstruction points to a systematic effort to prevent the appointment of independent individuals to public regulatory and media bodies.
We once again call on the Committee for Elections and Appointments to urgently correct its error and confirm the candidacy of Nataša Nelević in accordance with the applicable procedure.
Human Rights Action (HRA)
Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Media Institute of Montenegro
Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG)
PRIMA
Centre for Monitoring and Research – CeMI
Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)
Centre for Development of Non-Governmental Organisations (CRNVO)
Juventas
Institute Alternative
SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence
Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro (AYDM)