Presidential elections 2017-Polling stations are open

Opening of the polling stations for the presidential elections in Serbia went mainly in accordance with the valid procedures, CRTA election observation mission ‘Citizens on Watch’ stated. All observers were granted the access to the polling stations.

The total of 87 percent of the polling stations were open on time, 11 percent were open before 7am, while two percent of the polling stations were open with delay.

Observers, deployed to the random and representative sample of 450 polling stations, reported that the bags with election materials were secured with the security locks at all polling stations. Control ballots were not casted into the ballot boxes at one percent of the polling stations prior to the voting process. Two percent of the polling stations were not organized in accordance with the valid procedures, mainly in southern Serbia. All the activities were not recorded in the polling board records at five percent of the polling stations throughout Serbia.

All the members of the polling boards in permanent composition were not present at the opening of polls at 12 percent of the polling stations, mainly in southern Serbia, as well as at several polling stations in Belgrade and Vojvodina.

The total of 56 percent of the polling stations were not accessible for persons with disabilities, which is three percent less than in the last year’s parliamentary elections.

Some irregularities that were recorded included isolated incidents that cannot be considered a trend. These include the lack of control of voters’ IDs and not using the UV lamp.

CRTA election observation mission ‘Citizens on Watch’ does not have the observes on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, abroad and within the Bureau of Prisons.

CRTA election observation mission ‘Citizens on Watch’ based its monitoring of the Serbian presidential elections on April 2, 2017 on statistical principles as an effective method for systematic observation of the process during the Election Day, using the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology. This methodology enables the assessment of the entire voting process on the Election Day – opening of the polling stations, voting and vote count – in an unbiased and systematic manner. PVT methodology uses randomly selected sample of the polling stations (PS), which means that the results are representative for the entire country. Observers are deployed to 450 polls and they monitor the entire election process – from the opening of polling stations until the records on the election results are compiled. Based on representative sample, PVT enables detection of irregularities and violations of election procedures on the Election Day and provides information about regularity of the election process for the entire country.

CRTA’s election observation is based on the highest international standards, stipulated in the Declaration of Global Principles for Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations.

The next public statement of the CRTA election observation mission ‘Citizens on Watch’ is scheduled for noon.