Civil rights watchdog chief says law broken in election campaign

Lawyer Rodobljub Sabic, head of the Civil Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Whistleblowers, told the Beta news agency that the law was being broken to secure support for the parties of the ruling coalition.

The former Information Commissioner said that similar things happened in campaigns for earlier elections but that the current violations “are at a level and intensity that threatens to make them the main characteristic of the election process, completely taking away its legitimacy and turning it into a caricature”.

“There are everyday, overt, open and shameless offers of money, groceries, household appliances or jobs for votes… most often the target of these humiliating and illegal activities are the poorest and most marginalized and socially endangered groups,” Sabic said, adding that public sector employees are being threatened with losing their jobs unless they vote in a certain way.

Sabic warned that data bases of personal information are being misused with ruling party activists openly showing that they have the personal information of voters from data bases held by state bodies or phone service providers.