According to the Ministry of Finance, the elections on 11 June will cost us nearly €5m. The largest part of that money – more than €3m, will be allocated for financing the election campaign. The rest – €1.4m, will be allocated to the State Election Commission, and €370,000 to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for the costs of election materials and election administration.
We elected the head of state in March and April, so slightly more than €4m was spent for the two rounds of presidential elections.
This means that the upcoming parliamentary elections will cost us almost €1m more than the previous presidential elections. And there were elections last year as well.
The largest were in October 2020, when citizens of 14 municipalities elected local authorities. More than €326,000 was set aside for the financing of the election campaign in those municipalities.
Therefore, citizens paid more than €9m for election processes in just half a year.
When this is added to the amounts that the state pays for the regular functioning of parties and the salaries of MPs, it is more than clear why politics in Montenegro is still considered the most profitable business.
