According to the data of the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), the turnout on the presidential elections in Montenegro by 1 pm is 39 percent, stated the CeMI PR Coordinator, Maja Bjelic.
On the third CeMI press conference she said that by 13 pm in the southern region voted 33.5 percent of voters, in the central region 41.8 percent and in the northern region 39.1 percent.
“By 13 pm, 41.9 percent of voters voted in Podgorica, in Niksic 47.1 percent, in Bar 34.1 percent, in Bijelo Polje 42.4 percent.“, Bjelic said.
When speaking of the comparative data, Bjelic said that the turnout in the first round of the presidential elections by 13 pm was 35.5 percent, on the presidential elections in 2018 by 13 pm it was 32.8 present, on the parliamentary elections in 2020 it was 54.1.
"Since the last report CeMI had additional 43 reported irregularities. At the polling station 16 in Tuzi a citizen reported that a member of the Electoral Committee gives money to individuals who come to vote. The report confirms three cases with a remark that there is knowledge of a few other identical cases.", Bjelic said.
She also stated that in Podgorica at the polling station 78D, a citizen reported that not all members of the Electoral Committee are present at the polling station, i.e., that one member is missing.
"This violates the Article 72 of the Law which states that, while the polling station is open and voting is in progress, all members of the Electoral Committee or their deputies must be present.", Bjelic explained.
She also pointed out that at the polling station 4, primary school "Radojica Perovic" in Podgorica, photographing of a ballot paper is reported.
"The members of the Electoral Committee intervened and stopped the individual from voting, after which the person tore the ballot paper and left the polling station. The Electoral Committee recorded the event.", Bjelic added.
She stated that at the polling station 24C in Podgorica it has been reported that the device for electronic identification
of voters does not function, i.e., does not read the ID cards, as well as that the citizens and observers continue to report that the access to polling stations for persons with disabilities is inadequate.
"Also having in mind the repeated reporting of irregularities related to saying voters' names with their registration numbers in the voter list aloud by the Electoral Committee members, we would like to invite the Electoral Committees once again to follow the regulations of the Article 69 of the Law.", Bjelic said.
She also called for the citizens to report the noticed irregularities to the CeMI legal team, on the phone number 020 511 513, via the application Fer izbori available in Play store and on the website www.ferizbori.me.
The processed data related to the turnout in the election day, voting trends, estimation of results after closing of polling stations, CEMI shall, during the day, announce to the public via: regular live press conferences on CeMI You Tube channel, websites www.ferizbori.me and www.izbori.cemi.org.me, official social network profiles, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as Radio Television of Montenegro, TV Vijesti and TvE, which will broadcast live the CeMI press conferences.
Due to great interest of the media, CeMI decided to, unlike the first round of presidential elections as well as the previous elections that were monitored, present the turnout data at 15 pm as well.
The project “Civil monitoring of presidential elections in Montenegro in 2023“ was enabled by the British Embassy in Podgorica.
