Transparency International invites for investigation of election irregularities and pressure on election observers in Montenegro

Elections · 06/06/2014

Transparency International, a global organization for anti-corruption, invites the Government of Montenegro and the office of the Department of Human Rights (DHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) to investigate irregularities on the recent local elections in Montenegro, as well as pressures on observers from civil society.

“Democratic elections should be conducted with full transparency and should ensure that representatives of the civil society without interference monitor all stages of the electoral process. That has not happened in Montenegro. All observed and documented irregularities should be adequately investigated by the competent authorities, said Miklos Marshall, assistant director of the Transparency International.

Over 500 observers cooperated with the NGO MANS, partner organization Transparency International, to monitor local election held on May 25th. Observers have recorded over 800 irregularities, which includes keeping illegal records of the voters who voted, violation of the secrecy of voting, misuses of the voting procedure by letter, and the cases that some people voted more than once.

Most observers have been the subject of harassment and pressure.

Despite the fact that the irregularities have been reported to the competent institutions within the period prescribed by the law, all cases were rejected. “Such conduct is inconsistent with democratic values ​​and represents a serious shadow on Montenegro’s path towards membership of the European Community”, said Marshall

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