Candidates for Electronic Media Authority Say Selection Process Violates Law

REM - Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (Beta/Milos Miskov)

The 12 candidates who have been selected as potential members of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) Council say that the process in which they are taking part deviates from the legal framework, and from a report by the Committee for Culture and Information, which was adopted as the basis for implementing the harmonization procedure.

“Adding new proposers in the category of national councils of national minorities is contrary to that report, as well as to the letter and spirit of the law, and the move  undermines trust in the procedure itself, and in the institutions conducting it. We expect the competent authorities to bring the process back within the legal framework,” they said in a statement.

The candidates refer to legal provisions relating to the election of members of the REM Council and to the authorized proposers in the category of national councils of national minorities, claiming that the addition of new proposers has no legal basis.

“The REM Council is a body that must defend the legality and integrity of the media landscape. Therefore, as the candidates aspiring to participate in the process, we cannot remain silent in the face of obvious violations of regulations in the course of its selection,” the candidates warned in their letter.

They underlined that that all the votes and ballots signed by the national councils that were not authorized proposers must be declared invalid, and the result of the vote must be determined solely based on the three legitimate votes by the Bosniak National Council, the Albanian National Council, and the National Council of the Hungarian National Minority.