According to the data of the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), 6.6 percent of voters voted on the presidential elections in Montenegro by 9 am.
The CeMI PR Coordinator Maja Bjelic, said that by 9 am in the southern region voted 5.8 percent of voters, in the central region 7.6 percent and in the northern region 5.6 percent.
“Today we shall also monitor the turnout in the four cities – Podgorica, Niksic, Bar and Bijelo Polje. By 9 am, 7.5 percent of voters voted in Podgorica, in Niksic 8.8 percent, in Bar 5.5 percent, in Bijelo Polje 6.2 percent“, Bjelic said.
When speaking of the comparative data, Bjelic said that the turnout in the first round of the presidential elections was 6.6 percent by 9 am, on the presidential elections in 2018 by 9 am it was 6.2 present, on the parliamentary elections in 2020 it was 14.7 percent and on the parliamentary elections in 2016 it was 6.67 percent.
“At the beginning of the election day, from the opening of the polling stations until obtaining the first data at 9 am, 14 irregularities was reported to CeMI“, Bjelic said.
She also stated that at the polling station 25A in Podgorica, a voter used a phone to take a picture of the ballot paper, which is a violation of the directive on ballot secrecy from Article 69a and is also contrary to the Article 71a of the Law which prohibits the use of electronic communication devices in the voting premises.
“After the warning of the Electoral Committee, the voter attacked the members of the Committee and opened the ballot box. The police then arrived at the polling station.“, Bjelic said.
She then added that in the primary school „Meksiko“ in Bar, contrary to the directive of the ballot secrecy from the Article 69a, and unidentified person photographed the car plates in front of the polling station, and that same person asked the observers question about who had voted up to that point in time.
“After this situation, the mentioned individual left the polling station” Bjelic said.
She emphasized that two of the reported irregularities were related to the existence of the advertising material near the polling stations.
“Also, in more than one occasion, there were reports of reading the names of the voters aloud during their identification, as well as the use of phones by the members of the Electoral Committees. It was reported twice that the polling station was not adapted to the persons with disabilities“, Bjelic said.
She also reminded that in the second round of the presidential elections, 542.154 citizens have the right to vote, and they vote at 1.162 polling stations.
The citizens choose between two presidential candidates - the actual State President and leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, Mr. Milo Djukanovic and the candidate of the Movement Europe Now, Mr. Jakov Milatovic.
“We thank everyone who have been following us during the first round of the presidential elections and would like to remind you that the projections of our results deviated from the official data of the State Election Commission by 0.1 percent, so stay with us today as well, because we have our 650 accredited observers placed on the entire Montenegrin territory, and they will follow the voting process during the election day“, Bjelic said.
She 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.
The project “Civil monitoring of presidential elections in Montenegro in 2023“ was enabled by the British Embassy in Podgorica.
