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RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #0489/01 0871513
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281513Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8265
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 000489 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL MW SR
SUBJECT: MONTENEGRIN INDEPEDENCE REFERENDUM: VOTE BUYING 
ALLEGED, BLOCS SOLIDIFY 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
Ref: Belgrade 427 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  A video purportedly showing DPS (pro- 
Independence) activists attempting to buy the vote of a 
pro-Union voter received wide coverage, in Montenegro and 
Serbia, on March 24.  Both blocs have accused the other of 
being behind the video.  The parties have formalized their 
blocs, a prerequisite to splitting Euros 2 million in state 
funding for the campaign.  After a slow and discouraging 
start, more Serbian media outlets (including Radio- 
Television Serbia) have signed the voluntary media code of 
conduct for the referendum. The USG-supported local NGO CDT 
has called on parties to reduce the possibility for a tense 
campaign. Ambassador Polt met EU Envoy Lajcak March 24 
(septel). End summary. 
 
Votes, Lies, and Videotape 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On March 23 and 24, Montenegrin and Serbian media 
extensively covered a secretly recorded ten-minute film, 
purportedly showing three alledged members of the ruling 
Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) offering to pay the 
Euros 1600 electricity bill of a citizen of Golubovci, near 
Podgorica, in exchange for a promise that he would vote for 
indepedence. The DPS has claimed the film was fabricated by 
a recently dismissed pro-Union National Security Agency 
(secret service) officer, with past ties to paramilitary 
organizations and the Serbian secret service. He and the 
two alledged DPS representatives have been released from 
detention pending trial. The pro-Union bloc claims the 
footage is authentic. Some of those filmed claim they were 
filmed illegally.  The State Prosecutor has announced an 
investigation, consistent with her earlier statements to 
pursue actively such allegations (ref). 
 
¶3. (SBU) Comment: As the NGO Center for Democratic 
Transition (CDT) observed March 23, allegations of vote 
buying are common in Montenegrin elections, but rarely lead 
to prosecutions, either for violations of the election laws 
as alleged, or for baseless accusations. (CDT's activities 
are supported by USAID through a grant to NDI.) The tape 
may be authentic, but the amount offered for one vote -- 
sixty percent of per capita GDP (2638 Euros) -- is 
suspiciously high. SaM Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic is 
widely quoted in local media on March 27 as stating that he 
believes the film was staged. The surreptitious nature of 
the filming will probably make the tape unusable in court 
as evidence of vote buying and, as alleged by some 
participants, may itself be a crime. But while the tape 
temporarily fed tensions, attention has already started to 
drift away. End comment. 
 
Blocs Stacked Up 
---------------- 
 
¶4. (U) To be eligible to split Euros 2 million in state 
funding for the referendum campaign, the political parties 
must organize formally into blocs. The pro-Union bloc was 
formalized March 20, and includes four pro-Union parties: 
Socialist People's Party (SNP), People's Party (NS), 
Serbian People's Party (SNS) and Democratic Serbian Party 
(DSS). Also joining were: Socialist Party of Yugoslavia 
(formerly headed by Slobodan Milosevic); Serbian Radical 
Party (Vojislav Seselj); Communists of Montenegro; Movement 
for European Joint State of SaM; Council of People's Clans; 
Association of Veterans of WWII; Association of Warriors of 
the Wars of the 1990s; Movement for the Preservation of 
Serbs; and others. 
 
¶5. (U) The pro-Independence parties formalized their bloc 
on March 23.  It will include ten parliamentary and non- 
parliamentary parties: Democratic Party of Socialists, 
Social Democratic Party, Civic Party, Liberal Party, 
Democratic Union of Albanians, National Unity, Civic Forum, 
Bosniak Party, Croatian Civic Initiative, Democratic 
Community of Muslims/Bosniaks and the Independence 
Movement. Two ethnic Albanian parties that have not signed 
the agreement, Party of Democratic Prosperity and 
Democratic Alliance in Montenegro, stated that it will not 
affect their support to independence. 
 
Media Code of Conduct 
--------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Almost all media in Montenegro have pledged to 
observe the voluntary code of conduct ("codex") for 
 
BELGRADE 00000489  002 OF 002 
 
 
covering the referendum.  Twenty-one Serbian media outlets 
(newspapers, TV, radio) are widely available in Montenegro, 
and on March 10 were invited to sign the codex.  Initially, 
only four did so, and no major outlets signed.  Quiet 
pressure led by the OSCE, with support from the USG and the 
EU's Envoy Ambassador Lajcak, increased the signatures to 
eight by March 27, including Radio-Television Serbia (RTS), 
the largest of the Serbian media available in Montenegro. 
 
NGOs Looking to Reduce Tensions 
------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) The local NGO, Center for Democratic Transition 
(CDT), appealed on March 23 and 24 for both blocs to take 
steps to reduce tensions and avoid divisions among the 
citizenry.  It cautioned the pro-Union bloc on its repeated 
"warnings" of tensions, and referring to the vote as a "war 
referendum."  It also sharply and at length rejected pro- 
Independence talk of a "grey zone" (a majority for 
independence that falls short of the legal requirement of 
55 percent of votes cast), saying that all aspects of the 
referendum law should be respected.  The CDT reminded the 
public of its phone line for complaints.  The CDT is 
supported by the USG through a grant to NDI. 
 
POLT