CRTA: Upcoming Elections Organized by State Election Commission, Not Local Governments

CRTA Starts Systematic Election Monitoring on March 13

When local, provincial and parliamentary elections are held on the same day, the State Election Commission is responsible for organizing polls, and local self-governments have no jurisdiction, but citizens can opt to vote for candidates only at one level, Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) Program Director Rasa Nedeljkov has said.

In a statement to BETA on June 2, Nedeljkov said that in such situations, the State Election Commission was responsible for organizing the voting process at all levels and at all polls, while municipal and city commissions affirmed results for local or provincial elections.

In such elections, Nedeljkov said, the citizens may opt to vote for candidates only at one level as there would be three separate election tickets for each level and three separate ballot papers.  

Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) Executive Director Bojan Klacar told BETA on June 2 that it would be almost impossible to expect any opposition party to deploy enough number of controllers to all polling stations on Election Day, June 21, particularly not to cover two shifts throughout the day.