Movement of Free Citizens Warn of Possibility for Manipulation With Diaspora Votes

Movement of Free Citizens PSG

The Movement of Free Citizens announced on Feb. 13 that they were warning the public that, according to their allegations, the Serbian Progressive Party had started an operation to collect data about Serbian citizens who live and work abroad, in order to manipulate with their voting right on election day.

The statement reads that a member of the Movement's legal team, Vuk Djordjevic, had been approached by a Serbian citizen who no longer lives in Serbia, and whom an activist of the Progressive Party, an acquaintance of his, asked him for his personal data and explained that she needed it "for the election for (Serbian President Aleksandar) Vucic," so that she would be "given a job."

"We can clearly conclude from this that Progressive Party activists had been given the task to collect personal data from our citizens who live abroad, to carry out what they have been doing for years – after the polling stations close, they vote instead of the people who do not live in Serbia. In conditions of the election boycott and without active opposition controllers at the polling stations, it will be easier than ever," the Movement of Free Citizens assessed.

The statement reads that, according to data of the Serbian Interior Ministry, there were around a million and a half Serbian citizens living abroad and that, due to the complicated voting process, there are never more than around 15,000 of them actually voting and, the Movement explained, a huge number of blank ballots remain to be manipulated with.