According to data from the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI), 50.8 percent of voters voted in the Montenegro parliamentary elections by 7 p.m., announced the head of the legal department of that organization, Ognjen Mitrović.
He stated at the press conference that the voter turnout by 7 p.m. was 44.7 percent in the southern region, 51.8 percent in the northern region, and 53.4 percent in the central region.
"A large number of citizens reported to CeMI that they received text messages from certain political parties inviting them to come out and vote for their list. These actions are contrary to LoE and the principle of equality of all applicants for electoral lists," Mitrović said.
He also pointed out that it has been reported that contrary to the provisions on the secrecy of voting from Article 69a of the LoE, two voters found themselves in the voting booth at the same time, and stated that the Electoral Board did not cancel the contested ballot in this case.
“We notice that in these elections a lower number of irregularities has been reported compared to the earlier elections, and that certain irregularities that were frequent in previous elections, related to the breach of secrecy of voting, were not happening this time,” said 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 RTCG, TV Vijesti, TvE, and other 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.
He also announced that CeMI will present preliminary projections of the results at its next press conference, expected at 21.00, and maybe before that in case they manage to process the data more efficiently.
