WHERE DOES THE STATE FUNCTION END AND PARTY INTEREST BEGIN? BIRODI demands verification of Vučić’s name on the electoral list!

The Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI) announced today that the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption should investigate whether the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, by accepting that his name be part of the title of the electoral list and to be first on that list, violated Article 40 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption.

BIRODI stated that the competencies of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) and the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption must be separated, assessing that RIK’s actions regarding the electoral list do not resolve the issue of possible violations of anti-corruption regulations.

As stated, Article 40, Paragraph 1 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption prohibits a public official from subordinating the public interest to a private interest.

BIRODI believes that in this case it should be investigated whether party, i.e. political interest represented a private interest of a public official and whether the authority and public recognizability of the office of the President of the Republic were used to achieve political benefit.

“This is not a question of Aleksandar Vučić’s right to be politically active. That right is not in dispute,” BIRODI stated, adding that the question is whether a public official can put their authority gained by performing a public function into the service of achieving party and electoral interests while simultaneously holding the office of President of the Republic.

BIRODI pointed out that private interest should not be reduced solely to money or material benefit, stating that political influence, electoral success, increasing support for an electoral list, strengthening a political position, and the benefit of a political organization represent political benefit.

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The organization assessed that RIK, through its actions or lack thereof, cannot prejudge the decision of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption regarding whether a public official acted contrary to Article 40, Paragraph 1 of the Law.

BIRODI called on the Agency to investigate the circumstances under which Vučić gave consent for the use of his name in the title of the electoral list, his status as the list holder and first candidate on the list, the benefit that such use of the name brings to the electoral list and political organization, as well as the relationship between his political engagement and the function of the President of the Republic.

“Did the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vučić, by accepting that his name be an integral part of the title of the electoral list and to be first on that list, put his private political, i.e. party interest into the service of achieving political benefit by using the authority and public recognizability of the office he holds, thereby subordinating the public interest to private interest,” is the question that BIRODI requests the Agency to investigate.

BIRODI stated that it submitted a report to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and assessed that its failure to act would represent a failure to examine the boundary between public function and party interest, i.e., between the state and a political party.

The organization added that inaction by the Agency, its director, and the Council, according to its assessment, entails criminal liability under the Criminal Code of Serbia.