In the parliamentary elections in Montenegro, according to the data of the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), voter turnout as of 13 hours is 28.1 percent, the Head of the Legal Department of CeMI, Ognjen Mitrović, said.

At the press conference, he said that the turnout by 1 p.m. was 29 percent in the northern region, 29.4 percent in the central region, and 24.6 percent in the southern region.

"When it comes to comparing the turnout data to those from the previous elections - the turnout in the first round of presidential elections by 13 o'clock was 35.5 percent, in the 2020 parliamentary election 54.1 percent, and in the 2016 parliamentary election 39.9 percent", Mitrović said. 

He pointed out that CeMI’s observers, deployed in the entire territory of Montenegro, are monitoring the work of the electoral boards 

"They monitored the conditions for PWD voting. Thus, to the question ‘Are there physical barriers for access to BM for persons with disabilities?’ 23.7 percent answered that there are, and 74.8 percent that there are not. To the question ‘Are templates provided for the visually impaired?’ 74 percent said they were provided, 12.1 percent said they were not, while 13.9 percent said they did not know. The observers found that in 75.5 percent of cases the president of the electoral board is a man, and in 25.4 percent a woman," Mitrović said. 

According to him, voters and Cemi's observers report the occurrence of a certain number of voters finding out their polling stations were changed, without them being previously informed about that.

"Observers and citizens continue to report the use of mobile phones at polling stations, as well as the taking of photographs of ballots, which is a violation of the provisions on the secrecy of voting from Article 69a and a violation of Art. 71a of the LoE, which prohibits the use of electronic devices for communication in the voting room", says Mitrović. 

He called upon the citizens to report any observed irregularities to the legal team of CeMI on the phone number 020 511 513, or using the Fair Elections application, which is available in the play store and on the website www.ferizbori.me. 

"Following the report, our legal team will process any irregularity and inform the media and the entire public about it through social networks and other channels, and call the competent authorities to account," Mitrović said.

He announced that throughout the election day CeMI will inform the public of the processed data related to citizen turnout, voting trends and assessment of results after the closing of polling stations, through regular press conferences broadcast live through CeMI's You Tube channel, Facebook and Instagram pages, and also on websites www.ferizbori.me and www.izbori.cemi.org.me, official profiles on social networks Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as through television stations that broadcast live coverage of press conferences.

The project "Civil monitoring of parliamentary elections in Montenegro 2023" was made possible by the British Embassy in Podgorica.