The number of disinformation that has been spread so far in the campaign for the parliamentary elections is lower compared to the previous two election cycles.
Although the team of CDT’s platform Raskrinkavanje (Debunking) did record cases of disinformation that are characteristic of the pre-election campaign, as well as the bias of part of the media, the lesser involvement of the regional media and their preoccupation with other topics is obvious.
Since 2020, fake public opinion surveys have become an unwritten rule for every election campaign, including the current one. The Raskrinkavanje team identified and debunked a fake survey attributed to IPSOS, but also a number of other alleged surveys whose origin and truthfulness cannot be proven. One such survey was published on the newly established news portal CG Info, which lacks information about the founders or Publishers’ page of any kind. The available online data indicates it was founded on May 13 and that it obtained the domain through a company from Denmark.
An unverified survey is also being shared in Facebook groups, attributed to an agency about which there is no information on the Internet.
In addition to false and questionable research, the Raskrinkavanje team also noted the fabrication of a statement attributed to the holder of the Europe Now election list regarding post-election cooperation.
The tabloids from Serbia, which openly supported one candidate in the campaign for the presidential election and reported on the election in Montenegro as if it were being held on the territory of that country, now show significantly less interest in the campaign.
The space in them is still dominated by the representatives of the coalition For the Future of Montenegro, predominantly conveying their statements related to the events in Kosovo.
In addition to the above examples, the Raskrinkavanje newsroom also noted indirect attacks on individuals and parties, such as the inaccurate reporting by Alo and Novosti, in which negative stories were published about former Minister of European Affairs Jovana Marovic, President Jakov Milatovic and DPS simultaneously.
Based on the experience from the previous two election cycles, it is anticipated that the highest volume of disinformation will be published immediately before and during election day. Thus far, the campaign can be evaluated as an improvement compared to the previous one in this regard.
Darvin Murić, editor-in-chief of the Raskrinkavanje.me web portal