(Podgorica, 6 March 2013) – MANS has uncovered that the Niksic electoral lists, following the recent parliamentary elections in the fall of 2012, have seen an increase in voter registration. The new voters share the names and have very similar personal information to individuals who already had the right to vote during the October 2012 elections.
“It’s a fact that individuals with the same first and last names, date of birth and address, but who have different ID numbers, have raised questions about the possibility that the same person is being issued multiple ID cards so that they can vote twice (thereby impacting the election results),” according to MANS. MANS has concluded that manipulations of the electoral lists have continued and that the relevant institutions are brutally ignoring the recommendations of the ODIHR to ensure that the electoral lists are transparent, updated and are harmonized with other databases (like the records of births and deaths in the country).
“We’ve found, for instance, that recently there are two Nada Glusac’s now living in Niksic, both of whom were born on 13 September 1990, both of them living at Crkvica BB and registered to vote at the same poling station (“Dom Donje Crkvice”). Their ID numbers are distinguished only by the last digit. During the last elections in October, only one of these Nada’s had the right to vote, while the other Nada was only recently registered,” according to MANS.
The NGO has also drawn attention to the even more drastic example of the two Filip Grubac’s, both of whom were born on 3 October 1994, live at the same address (Ridjani BB), while their ID numbers are only distinguished by the last two numbers.
“Both of these Filips were registered in the electoral rolls in the last few months. It’s interesting that the Central Electoral List claims that the information for Filip was updated on 3 October 1994, which is obviously a mistake since it would have meant he was a registered voter since birth,” explains MANS. Similarly, MANS claims that there are two Gordana Milovic’s, who were both registered only after the last elections, both of them born on 26 October 1994 and their ID numbers differing by only 2 numbers. “Judging by their voter numbers, they were registered almost at the same time. The two Gordanas however live at different addresses and vote at different polling stations,” claims MANS.
Following the October parliamentary elections, another Miladin Kovacevic was registered. They are both born on 10 June 1959, both of them live at the same address (Zaslap BB) and are voting at the same polling station (Kuca Blaza Vujicica), though their ID numbers differ by four digits. This means that either one more Miladin suddenly appeared, or that the original Miladin received two ID cards.
“The clone of Mitar Marica was also born on 1 January 1988, lives at the same address as the original (Stedim BB), and was registered only after the last elections. The new ‘Mitar’ has a JMBG (ID number) that only varies from the old ‘Mitar’ by two digits,” notes MANS.
After the most recent elections Radinka Marojevic’s clone was also registered, as well as a double for Cetko Mrvaljevic. “Both were born on 24 March 1957. While one lives in Grebice BB, the address of the second is Prvi Maj. Their ID numbers differ by four digits, while the second Cetko didn’t have the right to vote previously.”
Clones from Previous Elections
MANS uncovered numerous examples of individuals who have nearly identical personal data and could vote during previous elections.
“For some time now there are two Vesna Jokic’s in Niksic that have been voting. Both of them were born on 10 June 1972 in the same city, and their ID numbers differ by only two digits. They live at different addresses and vote at different polling stations,” according to MANS. Similarly they draw attention to the two Bozidar Nikcevic’s who were both born on 8 January 1975, living at different addresses and voting at different polling stations.”
MANS notes that as in the previous electoral round they have again noticed a trend towards the registration of ‘clone’ voters, with exceedingly similar personal information to already registered voters. This raises the possibility that we are dealing with the same individuals being issued two ID cards (and hence given the opportunity to vote twice).
“A second Darinka Jovanovic seems to have registered in Niksic. She appears to have been born 4 December 1947, while her double was born 4 February 1947. They both live at the same address. A similar example can be found in the case of Aleksandar Curovic, who was registered following the last elections. He was born on 17 June 1979, a month after the Aleksandar who already was a registered voter. While officially we are dealing with two different individuals with two different ID cards, it is worth noting that these ‘clones’ live at the same address (Ostrovac 41). The example of Branka Kostic is similar. She was born on 14 March 1948, while her ‘clone’ with the same name, was born on the previous day, but has only registered following the recent parliamentary elections. Both of these Brankas live in Nikola Tesla Street,” according to MANS.
The same goes for the cases of Ilija Milic, Olga Banicevic, Jovan Todorovic, Punisa Cipranic, and Veselin Cipranic. In Niksic, there are even more clones, including Zorica Musikic, as well two persons with the names Milan Dragnic and Jovan Tripkovic each.
“Concrete examples also demonstrate that the electoral system, for whose design and maintenance millions of euros have been spent, continues to enable individuals with the same ID numbers to vote in two different locations. Even when someone moves from one address, they are able to gain the ability of voting at their new location without losing the right to vote at their old address.” Along these lines, MANS pointed to the examples of two Mirjana Radnics, Saveta Vemics, and Stanusa Giljens.
Confirmation that there were Irregularities
MANS’ information indicate that some duplicate voters were erased since the last election (only after MANS highlighted these cases). “This effectively demonstrated that there were illegalities in the maintenance of electoral lists, meaning that those who were registered couldn’t have had the right to vote or didn’t actually exist. The election list used for the previous parliamentary election contained two Ivan Rocenovics, both of them born on the same date, 10 September 1991, while their JMBG numbers differed only in the last two digits. While one lived in Street 79 BB, the other lived at Street 79 number 4. Both of them voted at the “Skolski Centar” polling station. Similarly, one Ivan Rocenovic was erased from the previous electoral list,” according to MANS. MANS added that a similar outcome was identified in the cases of Cvijeto Backovic and Suzana Janjusevic, and that there are now only single individuals registered to vote with those names.
