“The Single Electoral Roll in Serbia is now more up-to-date than ever,” the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Marija Obradović, has told Tanjug, and urged voters to check by midnight whether they are entered into the Single Electoral Roll (SER), as well as to vote in the elections because, according to her, it is important for people to express their electoral will as much as possible.
Obradović has stated that SER is a “living document”, and that the authorities predicted that from 18 March, when SER is concluded, until 3 April, a certain number of citizens will turn 18 and acquire their right to vote.
“Also, a number of people will die by this date and they will also be on the Single Electoral Roll, while a number of persons will change their place of residence without it being updated in the Single Electoral Roll if it happens just before the elections,” Obradović has told Tanjug .
She has recalled that citizens can check on the website https://upit.birackispisak.gov.rs/ whether they are entered into the Single Electoral Roll and where they can vote.
She has also mentioned that all OSCE/ODIHR recommendations were respected, so the citizens can check on the website who all the voters at their polling station are and how many voters there are in cities and municipalities.
The Minister had clarified that the voting invitation is not a condition for the citizens to go and vote at their polling station, and that they will be able to vote by providing their ID card or passport, provided they are entered into the Single Electoral Roll.
According to her, citizens should not be confused by the different numbers on the voting invitations, because, she adds, voting is conducted for both the parliamentary and presidential elections and for the local elections in Belgrade and in 12 municipalities and cities in the Republic of Serbia.
“The numbers are different because voting in local elections is conducted only at the community where a person lives, while for the republic elections they can vote in any city in Serbia or abroad, if they registered on time. If the citizens asked to vote outside their city or municipality, that change was made and they were transferred to the desired polling station, but at the same time they were deleted from the Single Electoral Roll for such elections in their home city,” the Minister has explained.
When asked about the allegations concerning voting invitations which were addressed to persons who are not registered as residing at addresses at which they were served, Obradović has stated that such allegations have been verified and that those persons were registered only at such addresses, but that there were no double entries in the Single Electoral Roll.
“It doesn’t matter whether they registered there because they needed parking in a central part of some Belgrade municipality because they work there and they need an annual ticket, or whether they want their child to go to a certain kindergarten or school so they want to territorially belong to that municipality. People are simply registering at other addresses due to various benefits,” Obradović has said.
She has noted that citizens should report such cases to the Ministry of Interior and request that such persons be deregistered from their addresses.
“The police can then call the persons you want to be deregistered, doing so under its ex officio obligation to call them twice, and if such persons do not respond to the calls their address becomes passive after about 15 days,” Obradović has explained, adding that there were no such reports to the relevant ministry, as well as that the Ministry of Interior had also announced that there were no reports.
“If anyone has any doubts, they should address the police or take such voting invitation to the polling station and ask from the competent persons to monitor if that person shows up. That person should definitely be allowed to vote because it is registered only at that place, and that can be further checked-up,” Obradović has said.
She has also explained that without the death certificate, the deceased persons cannot be deleted from the Single Electoral Roll, regardless of the year of their birth.
“On Twitter, certain persons have alleged that a certain woman named Nada died 24 years ago, so we checked the given address, and there is actually no information about her death in the Register of Deaths. It would be good if the family submitted a request for her deletion from the Civil records,” she has said.
She has recalled that it was possible for about 300,000 polling board members from political opposition to be present at more than 8,000 polling stations on election day.
Obradović has stated that 6,501,689 voters were entered into the Single Electoral Roll for the elections on 3 April 2022, while 6,510,233 voters were registered for voting in a referendum in January, which is 9,000 more than for the upcoming elections.
According to her, 6,583,665 voters were registered for voting in the 2020 elections, which is 82,000 more voters than now.
“In two years, the number of voters has been reduced, so there is no room for allegations that new voters have been added to the Single Electoral Roll,” Obradović has said.
When it comes to voting abroad, the Minister has said that about 40,000 voters registered at 77 polling stations in 34 countries worldwide.
Statement by Obradović – first part / source: Tanjug
Statement by Obradović – second part / source: Tanjug
Statement by Obradović – third part / source: Tanjug
Statement by Obradović – fourth part / source: Tanjug
Statement by Obradović – fifth part / source: Tanjug
source: Tanjug