Plans for Promotional Activities Have Rendered the Ban on Official-Holder Campaigning Meaningless
Official-holder campaigning in Serbia has neither been restricted nor prevented, as the recent amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Corruption have merely created the appearance that this area is regulated.
Transparency Serbia’s monitoring shows that official-holder campaigning continues unabated through promotional activities.
In most cases, officials have legal cover under a provision allowing promotional activities provided that they were “planned” before the elections were called.
Transparency Serbia warned that this exception would effectively “legalize” official-holder campaigning. Some of the plans published on the website of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption contain more than 70 promotional activities scheduled for the period from 5 to 25 October. There are even plans in which promotional activities are merely listed, without specific dates.
The Minister of Agriculture announced more than 50 promotional activities for the entire campaign period, while the Mayor of Niš announced 73 for the period from 5 to 25 October alone.
At the same time, several ministries have not submitted any plans, while one ministry submitted a notification stating that the minister does not plan any promotional activities.
The monitoring also identified several promotional activities that were not included in the plans, and Transparency Serbia has filed complaints with the Agency.
Among the plans is also one submitted by Serbia’s former president, covering the period until 27 September and dated 31 August. It is particularly noteworthy that this official document includes “calling parliamentary elections” as an activity - meaning that the then-president apparently knew in advance when the Government of Serbia would submit a proposal for the dissolution of Parliament.