Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 19/03/2023
Although everything smelled like a peaceful day in the world of disinformation regarding the presidential elections in Montenegro, the Nacionalist web portal decided to ensure that did not happen.
For some reason, the team behind that web portal has been spreading disinformation and fake news all day long, and judging by their content, they seem to be having a good time.
It all started with entertainment. The Nacionalist wrote that the night before the election, singer Jadranka Barjaktarovic allegedly entertained the guests of President Milo Djukanovic at the Villa Gorica. Of course, no information was published about that, so the editorial staff of Raskrinkavanje did not even bother to prove or deny those claims.
Later, on election day, the writings of the Nacionalist could no longer be ignored. It started with the fact that the current mayor of Podgorica and vice-president of the DPS was beaten and admitted to the Clinical centre in Podgorica. Vukovic posted on his social networks that the closest he was to the Clinical Center was during a tour of works on a nearby street. To avoid things remaining unclear, Raskrinkavanje was confirmed by that institution that Vukovic is apparently alive, healthy and unharmed because he did not pay a visit to them.
Apparently, that was not enough, so Nacionalist went on to publish a modified photo of Vukovic to support their claims. Thanks to the quick reaction of our colleagues from Pobjeda Daily, it was confirmed for Raskrinkavanje that the original photo was published on June 28, 2022, on their web portal.
Apart from Vukovic, this portal also picked on the presidential candidate Draginja Vuksanovic Stankovic, who is claimed to have met with another candidate – Djukanovic, again at the Villa Gorica. SDP announced that this was not true. The DPS characterized that information as “nonsense” when asked about it by Raskrinkavanje.
Presidential candidate Jovan Jodzir Radulovic was not spared either. The Nacionalist writes that he gave up the election because he received a threat from the Djukanovic camp. Radulovic himself denied it.
The barrage of, in all probability, fabricated texts continued and targeted Djukanovic and DPS. The Nacionalist writes that “Milo is certainly losing power“, that “he is not making it to the second round“, that “a convoy of DPS vehicles is rushing towards the north of Montenegro“, and that after the Bosniaks and Albanians, even Roma “turned their backs on Djukanovic“. There is no evidence for these claims.
And finally, Nacionalist decided to devote significant space on its web portal to the Podgorica-based company Bemax and its owner, Ranko Ubovic, claiming he was arrested. And not only that, according to the information shared by the Nacionalist, an extensive action was carried out in the afternoon hours on Mihaila Lalica Street, in one of the buildings that allegedly belongs to Bemax. As the web portal writes, equipment for tapping mobile phones was found on that occasion. Eyewitnesses denied to Raskrinkavanje that strong police forces entered that part of the city. In addition, there is no relevant information that there was a search of the company’s premises, nor the discovery of any tapping devices.
All in all, the Nacionalist made quite an effort on Sunday, a non-working day, and maybe it could have been different.