(Podgorica, 16 April 2013) – The reports submitted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) in response to complaints filed by presidential candidate Miodrag Lekic – dealing with electoral irregularities in the municipalities of Podgorica and Niskic – provide further evidence of procedural inconsistencies. The MUP’s reports seem to indicate that the oversight investigations haven’t been conducted properly and that this ministry has adopted a totally unprofessional attitude towards existing complaints.
Contrary to the relevant legislation and regulations, the MUP has submitted oversight investigation reports that are not understandable and that do not contain any facts or contextual information that would indicate that the disputed changes to the voter lists were made in a legal manner. Instead, in the majority of the reports only cursory justifications are offered, including assertions of the type: “the documentation shows that conditions for electoral registration were met;” “no irregularities were confirmed during registration and alterations to the electoral lists,” “registration and alterations in the lists were made in accordance with the law,” “insight into the central electoral list confirms that the individual in question fulfills legally mandated conditions for registration” and so on, without any assessment of the factual situation.
In the great majority of cases, the MUP failed to provide the ID numbers of the individuals whose registration was allegedly reviewed. They only provided the name and last name, not allowing analysts to confirm with precision what individuals we’re dealing with and whether or not their cases were actually reviewed. This is particularly problematic since a large number of the irregularities that MANS has drawn attention to relate to the registration of individuals with identical names and last names and with nearly identical ID numbers.
Furthermore, contrary to the regulations, for a large number of individuals it is stated that the change in their status was carried out by the Secretariat for Local Self-Government of the Capital City Podgorica through a single document. Changes in the voter lists were thus made for seven individuals on the basis of document no. UP.I 06-209/13-110, another 19 individuals were registered via document no. UP.I 06-209/12-2091, while an additional 12 individuals were registered on the basis of UP.I 06-209/13-113.
The way in which the MUP’s oversight was carried out can be seen in the case of Blagoje Jokic, for whom the MUP concluded that: “The review of the documentation confirm that the voter Jokic, Blagoje JMB 2606938260012 isn’t registered in the voter list of Niksic municipality.” Hence, the MUP’s investigation revealed that a person who isn’t listed in the electoral list had his data changed in that list.
Similarly, the objects of the oversight investigations failed to sign the reports, even though Article 34 of the Law on Oversight Investigations stipulates that every report has to be signed by the subject of the investigation. In this case, this would have been the representatives of the Local Self-Government Secretariat in Niksic. If the subjects of the investigation do not want to sign the document, this must be stipulated in the report.
