(Podgorica, 22 April 2013) – Official information from the Ministry for Information Society and Telecommunications indicates that in the period between the October 2012 parliamentary elections and the April 2013 presidential elections, the information of 25,000 voters was altered. MANS calls on the Ministry to reveal the details of the changes made, in order to contribute to increasing public trust in Montenegro’s institutions or to uncover their illegal behaviour.
According to the Ministry, there were 25,000 changes to the voters list, relating to changes in residency, settlement in Montenegro and ‘other’ non-specified changes.
MANS has already compared the numerical tabulations of data regarding the changes made to voter lists between the parliamentary elections in 2009 and 2012. Including changes made during the presidential and local elections held during those years using data released by the Ministry.
The available data at the time confirmed our suspicious that voter lists weren’t being managed in an appropriate way. It appeared as though major changes were made in short periods of time.
According to the information that was made publicly available by the Ministry, in the lead up to the presidential elections, thousands of persons had their residency changed following the previous elections. The place of residency determines ones polling station where one can vote, while the law also stipulates the need to have 2-years residency in Montenegro in order to qualify as a voter.
Since last year’s parliamentary elections till the local elections held in Niksic and Andrijevica this year, there were 4,408 changes made to the voter list. That is around 45.4 changes a day. 96% of the changes were made in Podgorica. After the elections in Niksic, the dynamic of changing the voter list dropped significantly (to only 7.8 changes a day, with only 1/6 changes made in Podgorica). If we compare this data with the period between the parliamentary elections held in 2009 and those held in 2012, we can conclude that in three-and-a-half years, only 2,966 changes were made (i.e. 2.3 changes a day).
Information on the date of settlement in Montenegro was also altered. The current law stipulates that foreigners can receive Montenegrin citizenship only if they’ve been living in the country for 10 years, or 5 years if married to a Montenegrin citizen. Changing the date of settlement in Montenegro can influence the individuals right to vote in the country.
In the period between the parliamentary and local elections, some 4,920 changes were made, that is roughly 50 a day. 99.3% of these were made in Podgorica. After the local elections the number of changes is again reduced to 2.3 alterations a day (while Podgorica’s share of the total also drops off considerably). Again, if we compare this data to the data for 2009-2012, the scale of the recent changes is evident given that during the three-and-a-half year period only 332 changes were made.
When it comes to ‘other’ changes made (where the reasons aren’t specified), it’s worth noting that in only two months in between the local and presidential elections, some 10,000 changes were made (or 150 a day). In the period between the most recent parliamentary elections and the local elections, another 4,829 changes were made (roughly 50 a day).
The Ministry for Information Society and Telecommunications remains silent and refuses to explain to the public what types of changes are being made under the ‘other’ category. There are already separate columns for changes to names, ID numbers, residency and settlement.
Only 5,000 of the changes could possibly be related to changes in polling stations, which leaves more than 10,000 remaining changes in the ‘other’ category. It’s clear that this category includes alterations that aren’t defined by the law, thus we expect the Ministry to immediately explain what types of changes were made to the remaining voters.
MANS expects the government to enable interested NGOs to access information related to changes in the voter lists, instead of making secret presentations to the international community and uncritical media. Only by making this data publicly available to election observers, will the NGO sector have a chance to follow changes to the electoral lists and thus increase trust in Montenegro’s institutions or in uncovering illegal activity.
