Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006

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Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006The Referendum CampaignThe Referendum campaign was followed by aggressive media propagandain which citizens were called to vote in the referendum and say “YES“to the Constitution. The Government of Serbia, almost all parliamentaryparties, state institutions, religious and sports organizations and respectedindividuals were included in the campaign. The campaign was characterizedby uniformity of the messages, i.e. open cheering for one of the options(the confirmation of the Constitution) and threats to all those who werein favor of boycotting of the referendum. A group of political parties(the Liberal-democratic Party, the Civic Alliance of Serbia, the Social-Democratic Union and the Social-Democratic League of Vojvodina) andnon-governmental organizations had taken the position that the referendumshould be boycotted. The main reasons were of both procedural (theabsence of public discussion, secrecy on the framing of the Constitution)and statutory nature (the reduction of the achieved level of human rights,mentioning Kosovo in the preamble, the definition of Serbia as a nationalstate, insufficient level of autonomy of Vojvodina, etc) 198 . This block wasmainly ignored by the largest media houses (RTS, „Vecernje novosti“, thetabloids) or ignored to a large extent (RTV B92, TV Pink, „Politika“) 199 .The messages of the anti-referendum block could only be found in thelow-circulation daily newspaper „Danas“ 200 . For the purpose of illustration,the daily newspaper with the largest circulation, „Vecernje novosti“, in theperiod of the 17th to 28th of October, published 84 positive, and only fournegative texts on the proposition of the Constitution 201 .On the proposition by the Government, the Parliament of Serbia votedfor the Law on Rebalancing the Budget, by which funds were obtainedfor the referendum campaign of the political parties 202 RIK had, on 17th198 On the reasons for boycotting the referendum see the announcement of twenty eight non-governmental organizationsfrom October 25 th , 2006, available at the website: http://www.yihr.org/Srpski/Saopstenja/Saopstenja%202006/Saopstenja2006html/Stop%20snizavanju%20nivoa%20zastite%20ljudskih%20prava%20i%20sloboda.php, visited on November 25 th , 2006; also see the announcements of the following parties: LDP, October 5 th ,2006, available at the website: http://www.cedajovanovic.com/code/navigate.php?Id=567, visited on November25 th , 2006; GSS, October 6 th , 2006, available at the website: http://www.gradjanskisavez.org.yu/srp/saopstenja2.php?id=784, visited on November 25 th , 2006; LSV, October 5 th , 2006, available at the website: http://www.lsv.org.yu/?menu=1&news=1859, visited on November 25 th , 2006199 Report of the Press Council of the Media Center on the referendum campaign, published on November 6 th ,2006, available at the website: http://www.mediacenter.org.yu/upload/Savet%20za%20stampu/Referendum%20izvestavanje%20final.pdf, visited on November 25 th , 2006200 Ibid201 Ibid202 The Law on the changes and additions of the Law on Budget, adopted on September 29 th , 2006, OfficialGazette of RS number 85/0656
Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006October, divided 150 million dinars amongst the parliamentary parties forthe referendum campaign, according to the number of representatives.The most money, 49.2 million dinars (615 000 €) was given to the SerbianRadical Party, the Democratic Party of Serbia 31.2 million (390 000 €),the Democratic Party 19.2 million (240 000 €), G17 Plus 18.6 million (232500 €), and the Socialist Party of Serbia 13.2 million dinars (165 000 €) 203 .There are no legal frames which regulate the financing of the referendumcampaign. The Law on Referendum regulates only the financing of theReferendum itself 204 , while there is no mention of the possible campaign.On the other hand, the Law on financing political parties speaks specificallyof the pre-election campaign 205 .The non-governmental organization Transparency Serbia 206 also warnedabout this legal gap and the non-existence of legal means to appointfunds to political parties. CESID also pointed out in it’s report on themonitoring of the elections that there is no legal basis to appoint fundsfrom the budget to political parties in this way 207 . Both non-governmentalorganizations warned about the impossibility of controlling spending offinancial funds given to the parties 208 . Considering that the procedure ofgiving and spending money was not regulated anywhere, there are also noregulations which would oblige the political parties to inform RIK, theNational Assembly and the public of their expenses. Still, some partiesannounced that they would submit a report to RIK on the expenses of thecampaign, and even return a part of the money 209 . However, it is evidentthat this depends exclusively on the good will of the parties, so the citizensof Serbia, besides being obliged to give some of their money to politicalparties, were denied the information on how that money was spent.During the pre-referendum campaign in Serbia, media laws were also harshlyviolated. Although there were three options for the citizens to choose from,all electronic and printed media gave unconcealed support to the option203 What happened to the money for the referendum, B92, November 2 nd , 2006, website: http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/u_fokusu.php?id=122&start=15&nav_id=218255, visited on November 25 th , 2006204 Article 30 of the Law on referendum, see above under 9205 The Law on financing political parties, adopted on July 18 th , 2003, Official Gazette of RS number 72/03206 The announcement of the Transparency Serbia organization from October 6 th , 2006, available at the website:http://www.transparentnost.org.yu/aktivnosti/fos/06102006.html, visited on November 25 th , 2006207 CESID, The report on Referendum, available at the website: http://www.cesid.org/articles/download/files/Izvestaj_o_referendumu_final.doc?id=37, visited on November 25 th , 2006208 Ibid, see also above under 206209 What happened to the money for the referendum , B92, November 2 nd , 2006, website: http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/u_fokusu.php?id=122&start=15&nav_id=218255, visited on November 25 th , 200657
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Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006

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