In response to the statement issued by a group of non-governmental organizations that supported the candidacy of Savo Šofranac for member of the Council of RTV Podgorica, we, the representatives of 12 non-governmental organizations that supported the candidacy of Nataša Nelević, consider it necessary to inform the public of the facts that were omitted from that statement or presented inaccurately.

First, the previous statement of our NGOs was signed and, as such, was not presented as the position of the entire non-governmental sector of Montenegro. The claim that we attempted to present ourselves as the voice of “the entire civil society” is unfounded and represents an attempt to divert attention from the substance of the dispute.

Second, the candidacy of Savo Šofranac was eliminated due to incomplete documentation, specifically the absence of certificates of residence and citizenship, which were prescribed by the Public Call as mandatory attachments. This is not our assessment, but the finding of the Committee for Selection 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 it found that the candidacies of Nataša Nelević and Stojan Sjekloća were complete and submitted on time. This leads to the key fact that the statement of the 17 NGOs fails to mention: Šofranac did not become an official candidate before the Committee. The number of non-governmental organizations that nominated or supported such a candidate is legally irrelevant, because the criterion of the number of supporting organizations can be applied only to candidates who have passed the verification of the formal validity of their application. Šofranac did not pass that verification. The only candidates on whom the Committee could decide on the merits were Nataša Nelević, supported by 12 NGOs, and Stojan Sjekloća, supported by 3 NGOs. In that, the only legally relevant pool, Nataša Nelević had greater support than her opposing candidate and, under the Decision on the Establishment of RTV Podgorica, Article 34, the Committee was obliged to confirm her candidacy. Referring to the number of 17 NGOs that allegedly legitimately stood behind Šofranac is not a relevant legal argument, but an attempt to use numbers to conceal the fact that their candidate did not meet even the basic formal requirements to be considered at all.

Third, we reject the claims about Nataša Nelević’s conflict of interest, namely that she is “the candidate of the Chair of the Board of Directors of Vijesti,” Željko Ivanović, which seek to discredit her as a person without integrity. Such claims are unsubstantiated, sweeping, and clearly malicious. Nataša Nelević is the candidate solely of the group of organizations that nominated her. We call on the signatory organizations of the statement to substantiate their allegation with concrete evidence or to publicly withdraw it and apologize to Nataša Nelević.

Fourth, repeating the Public Call, instead of correcting an obvious error, would constitute an abuse of office and an admission of the Committee’s inability to apply its own rules. Such a decision would cause additional damage to Montenegro’s reputation at a time when institutions are expected to consistently apply procedures that guarantee the independence of public media service councils, rather than unlawfully reshape them for the sake of desired political dominance.

We have also informed the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro of all the above, pointing to the intention of the councillors of the ruling majority (PES, Democrats, Movement for Podgorica, and the Democratic People’s Party) to prevent, contrary to the applicable procedure, the selection of the candidate who met all the requirements and was nominated by the largest number of non-governmental organizations. We recall that the ruling majority unjustifiably blocked for months the selection of NGO candidate Duško Vuković to the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services, and that the selection of two civil society candidates to the Council of RTCG continues to be obstructed. This continuity of obstruction points to a pattern of preventing the appointment of independent individuals to public regulatory and media bodies. We once again call on the Committee for Selection 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
Center 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 Organizations (CRNVO)
Juventas
Institute Alternative
SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence Podgorica
Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro (AYDM)