Analysis of the data that citizens reported via SOS phone, MANS’s monitoring and analysis program has found that four persons in previous election cycles voted illegally, because they did not have the right to vote, according to the Law on Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, as they were completely devoid of the legal capacity.
According to the provisions of Article 11 of the Law on Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, the right to vote in parliamentary and local elections in Montenegro is granted to adult Montenegrin citizens, who have the capacity and a permanent residence for at least two years for the parliamentary elections, or six months in the territory of the municipality for local elections. Therefore, in accordance with the Law on Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, no person who has been deprived of legal capacity have the right to vote in parliamentary and local elections.
For example, B.M. voted in the 2012 parliamentary elections, despite having been deprived of the legal capacity in 2006 by the decision of the Basic Court in Bar. B.M. was born on 27 September 1952 in Zrenjanin, Serbia, her address at the time of elections was “Tesla 12” in Bar, and she voted at the polling station “Pribojsko odmaraliste, Sutomore”, which can be confirmed by the signed copy of the excerpt from the electoral list for the particular polling station.
Very similar is the case of K. D., born 1 May 1955 in Bar. He illegally voted in the parliamentary elections in 2012, despite having been devoid of the legal capacity at the end of 2010 by a decision of the Basic Court in Bar. That person had previously had the residence in “Podgrad”, but he voted at the polling station, „OS Serbia, Stari Bar” by post.
In addition, MANS has proved that R.I., born 11 November 1980 in Podgorica, illegally voted in the local elections 2014, since her legal capacity had been revoked by the decision of the Basic Court in Podgorica late 2013. That person, at the time of local elections in Podgorica, had been registered at the address “Cvijetna UL2” in Podgorica, and voted, contrary to the law, at the polling station “JU OS Pavle Rovinski” (N-R).
Lj.K., born 26 August 1948, also voted illegally in the local elections 2014, as he had been deprived of the legal capacity at the end of 2013 by the decision of the Basic Court in Podgorica. At the time of voting, he was residing at the address “Dusici BB” in Podgorica, but voted at the polling station “Dom omladine Sukuruc” located in Tuzi in Podgorica.
Although it is explicitly laid down by the law that persons who are fully deprived of the legal capacity cannot vote in parliamentary and local elections, someone made possible that those four persons illegally exercise the right to vote. These cases have disclosed another mechanism of illegal influence on the election process and the election results, which was unknown to the public until now.
Therefore, MANS is going to file criminal charges to the Special Prosecutor for the fight against corruption and organized crime against unknown persons from the municipalities of Bar and Podgorica, who were responsible for keeping the electoral list during the aforesaid election cycles, in order to immediately prosecute all those who made possible illegal influence on the election results of the parliamentary and local elections.
Also, bearing in mind that non-governmental organizations under the Law on Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament are not entitled to obtaining a copy of the excerpt from the electoral list of polling stations, which indicate whether a voter voted, since that right is reserved exclusively for the list of candidates and parliamentary political parties, MANS will ask the prosecution to check any additional abuses that occurred in previous election cycle. Therefore, MANS will require the special prosecutor Milivoj Katnic to urgently obtain all decisions of Montenegrin courts with regard to deprivation of legal capacity of all persons with voting rights, and duly check excerpts from electoral lists from the polling stations and determine whether there are any additional cases of illegal voting that group of voters, as well as prosecute all such violations.
Potential signature forgery
K.LJ. from Tuzi in Podgorica, who lost the legal capacity in December 2013, voted in the previously held elections for the President of Montenegro, at the same polling station where he had voted in the local elections – in “Dom omladine Sukuruc”. However, by examining the excerpts of the electoral lists from the two polling stations, it has been found that the signatures of the person are completely different for the two election cycles. Therefore, not only that someone illegal allowed K.LJ. to exercise the right to vote in the local elections in Podgorica, but there is also a suspicion that someone voted instead of him.
Vuk Maras
Marko Vesovic
This text is created with the support of the European Union and the US Embassy in Podgorica. Network for Affirmation of Non-Governmental Sector – MANS is solely responsible for the contents of this article, and the views taken herein shall not in any case be considered as those of the donors.
