Over 120 thousand voters or nearly one in four citizens eligible to vote in these elections was transferred to another polling station compared with the presidential elections, shows the analysis of the electoral register conducted by MANS’s program for monitoring and analysis.
In the period between the presidential election in 2013 and the forthcoming parliamentary elections, the polling station was changed for 122,963 voters. Therefore, all those voters who have voted for years in the same polling station can now exercise their voting right in a new location, at another polling station.
Every third voter in Podgorica will vote in a different polling station compared with the presidential elections, which means that almost 65 thousand people will go to a different polling station.
The address and the polling station have been changed for a large number of voters, although the system of the Ministry of Interior does not have clear documentation on the basis of which those changes have been made. Thus, for example, for more than 120 voters from several streets of Podgorica districts Blok V and Konik the address and the polling station were changed to Bjelasicka Street, which is located in Zagoric district, several kilometers away from the old polling station and in another part of the town.
Most voters have been moved from Mihailo Lalic in Blok V to 1. Maj Street, which is located in Konik district. After examining the documentation that is available at the Ministry of Interior, only a few voters submitted the request for a change of address, while for the rest, the legal basis for the change of address is specified in the act of the Chief Administrator of the Municipality of Podgorica no. 01-02-034 / 16-934, which contains a table with the names of several streets and places in Podgorica.
However, neither the act nor the table contain the address of voters whose polling stations have been changed, so it cannot be a basis for the change.
Another drastic example is the municipality of Herceg Novi, where the polling station has been changed for over 12 thousand voters, or every other citizen with the right to vote.
In Bar, the polling station has been changed for more than 6,600 voters, or every fifth voter, while in Kotor the polling station has been changed for over 5,600 people, or more than one-third of the total number. In Rozaje, almost a quarter of voters, or nearly 5,000 has got a new polling station.
Also, in Cetinje the polling station has been changed for 4,461 voters or nearly a third of the total number of voters, while in Plav the polling station has been changed for 3,645 voters. It is similar with Tivat, where the polling station has been changed for 3,238 voters. In the municipalities of Pljevlja, Berane, Bijelo Polje and Niksic, the polling station has changed for over two thousand voters.
Check where you vote
On the election day, the electoral committees only have data on the voters that have the right to vote at their polling station, so they cannot inform citizens on where they can exercise their right to vote. Instead, citizens should contact the Ministry of Interior or MANS in order to obtain the information about the new polling station, and these services will be provided on the election day as well.
Citizens can check where they vote in the regional units and branches of the Ministry of Interior, by calling the Ministry’s call center on 19820 or through the website www.biraci.me.
Citizens can see where they are in the electoral register through the MANS’s service for free legal aid via telephone 020/266-326, 067/262-724 and 069/446-094 (telephone and Viber), as well as via e-mail mans@t-com.me and nvomans.sos@gmail.com.
Authors:
Vuk Maras
Mila Radulovic
This text is created with the support of the European Union and the U.S. Embassy 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 European Union.
