Source: Blic
Rodoljub Sabic, Information Commissioner
For the financing of the recently finished parliamentary election campaign, 323 million Dinars were provided from the Budget. One fifth of this amount has already been distributed to all participants in the elections, and four fifths will be shared by the parties or coalitions that have managed to get in the Parliament, proportionately to the number of the mandates that have been won, to cover the real costs. For that kind of money, tax payers have the right to expect that many of the promises that were given will be kept. Considering that anti-corruption was one of the highlighted commitments of all campaigners, it would make sense if its realization started with the concrete information about the part of the expenses to be covered from the Budget. Moreover, all other relevant information should be made public, including the information about total costs of the campaign and, especially, the sources of financing. The campaign needed a great deal of money and it needed it immediately. Those who were able to give such huge amounts were in the position to make the beneficiary dependent, to “book” them for the realization of their own, illegitimate interests. By the way, if we divide 323 million by 250 (the number of MPs) we get the amount that corresponds to four average annual salaries in Serbia. In a country where nearly a million people are not able to earn any salary this is, no doubt, a great effort. The aim with which this effort was made should be taken seriously.
