Podgorica, (MINA) – Montenegro should promptly develop a special plan to protect the electoral process from foreign interference, combining institutional, regulatory, security, media and social mechanisms, according to the Digital Forensic Center’s (DFC) study “Elections under Scrutiny: Threats to the Electoral Process in Montenegro”.

 

That study was presented in Podgorica on Tuesday, at a round table organized by DFC at the Science and Technology Park.

 

 

DFC analyst Marko Banovic said that the focus of the new study are primarily next year’s parliamentary and local elections, which, according to him, would have direct implications for institutional stability, European integration dynamics and long-term geopolitical orientation.

 

 

He explained that the study goal was to shed light on patterns and methods, already tested on EU soil, through the analysis of already documented cases of foreign interference in electoral processes in Europe.

 

Banovic said that, when it comes to Montenegro, disinformation campaigns by Serbian Russian proxies have shaped public opinion in almost all election cycles, especially from 2016 onwards.

 

He explained that the four key narratives they observed include threat to Serbs in Montenegro and discrimination, Montenegro being “ambassadorian” country and not having its own sovereignty, narratives about the Serbian language and symbols, as well as the instrumentalization of Kosovo.

 

According to Banovic, one of the key levers for spreading Russian and Serbian influence in Montenegro is the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has a strong mobilization capacity that goes beyond the religious framework and enters the sphere of national and political mobilization.

 

“Montenegro should timely develop a special plan for the protection of the electoral process against foreign interference, which would combine institutional, regulatory, security, media and social measures”, the study concludes.