(Podgorica, 25 September 2012) – MONSTAT declared yesterday that the data contained in the census and electoral rolls about those who are 60 or older were incomparable, since the later list includes those living outside of Montenegro. Such a justification is a transparent attempt to hide the fact that in Montenegro there are 6000 more voters older than 60 who are registered in the electoral rolls than in the census.
The Law on the Election of MPs clearly stipulates that a person can vote only if they are a Montenegrin citizen living in Montenegro for at least two years. MONSTAT claims that the difference of several thousand voters exist because at the time of the census they were outside the country, citing as an example the case o students living abroad.
First off, we never claimed to be talking about students but about citizens older than 60, who must have massively been moving to and from Montenegro in the last two years (since if they lived abroad for more than two years they would lost their right to vote and they should have been erased from the electoral rolls).
Furthermore, the Law on the Registry of Residency states that the Ministry of Interior (MUP) should initiate proceedings to establish the residency of persons who move from the country, even when they do not inform the responsible institutions. According to this law, MUP is responsible for deregistering these residences, thus depriving those individuals of their right to vote.
Obviously, smaller discrepancies are possible, however, the fact that over 6000 elderly individuals have the right to vote – even though they’ve been living abroad for decades – would mean that the MUP was massively violating the law (by granting the right to vote to persons who haven’t been present in Montenegro for a long time, either as a result of migration or passing away).
For those reason we are asking that this matter be clarified and that all political parties be allowed to have a look at the death registry as well as the information about residency and voters who voted during the last elections. This would be in accordance with the Law on the Electoral Roll and would allow all parties to establish which persons on the voters lists are deceased and whether or not someone is still voting in their name (which is more likely in more remote regions of Montenegro, where we find the greatest number of such examples).
According to this, regardless of the different goals and purposes of the census and electoral rolls, the existing law confirms that information in the two should be roughly equivalent, unless MUP and other state institutions are systematically violating the law and are, in an organized say, compiling inaccurate voter rolls in order to influence the eventual election results.
Newly Registered Elderly Persons
As further evidence to support the allegations that the data concerning the elderly is being manipulated in order to influence the elections, and that among those registered there are many deceased persons, are the drastic differences between the electoral rolls for these and previous parliamentary elections.
In comparing two central electoral lists, one compiled for the March 2009 parliamentary elections and the current version, we noticed that many voters older than 60 were registered in the electoral rolls for this election that couldn’t have voted in 2009.
MANS compared the information based on ID numbers (aka. JMBG numbers), given names and surnames, in order to eliminate the possibility that the later registration of these persons was carried out due to a change in residency, marriage or something similar. There are only a few persons born in other states, meaning that their later registration can be justified by the acquisition of Montenegrin citizenship.
To date, we’ve only completed a full analysis for Bar, Ulcinj and Andrijevica, and we’ve already uncovered a number of suspicious cases. For instance, in Bar, Jelka Pindovic (85) and Ruzica Zivkovic (84) can now vote in Bar. Similarly, the same goes for Jelena Nikic (83), Miodrag Mijuskovic (81), Vida Krgovic (77), Bosiljka Djonovic and Tomislav Babovic (75), Djina Skopelja (74), Ismet Radoncic (73), Zorka Radacic, Kima Ajdarpasic, Rifa Hodzic (all 72). All of these individuals were born in Montenegro (along with the overwhelming majority of those over 60).
Between the two elections (2009 and 2012), we find in Ulcinj recently registered persons like Sehida Rastoder (92), Ljimona Quranolli (84), Mirko Vukmarovic (82), Bahri Brisko and Djusta Djonovi (both 79), Bajram Muric (78), Ilinka Pepaj (77), Hajrudin Pufija, Smail Ajdarpasic and Ali Lunji (74), all born in Montenegro. In Andrijevica, we find the recent registration of Magdalena Maslovaric (81), Velimir Bacanovic (73), Milovan Marijanovic (68), Zarko Novovic (66) and several others who were also born in Montenegro.
More Voters than Residents
Comparing the data in the census and electoral rolls we find that in many municipalities there are more registered voters than residents, including underage youth. Information on each age group isn’t available, instead they are grouped in categories (0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19). For this reason, at the municipal level, it is impossible to precisely conclude how many persons were 17 last year (i.e. how many would have the right to vote today).
Nevertheless, MANS approached the available data with great care and removed the first three categories of younger voters, who were younger than 14 during the last census and would have turned 15 this year. Using this method, we find in a number of municipalities in which there are many more young persons who have the right to vote than the number of youth older than 16. Obviously, if MONSTAT had gathered information per year, the differences would have been greater.
MANS will continue keeping all relevant international organizations appraised of such massive discrepancies, particularly the ODIHR mission. Such organizations will not buy MONSTAT’s simplistic replies and the transparent attempts by members of the ruling parties who are responsible for managing the Central Electoral List (CBS) to manipulate the electoral rolls.
