Serbian diaspora breaks record: 73,000 citizens registered to vote abroad

The Serbian diaspora’s interest in voting in the early parliamentary elections of October 25 has broken all records: so far more than 73,000 Serbian citizens have registered to vote abroad, Republican Electoral Commission (RIK) member Dushan Dinçiç announced today in a statement to the Beta agency, as cited by Nova.rs. Dinçiç said the Foreign Ministry will tomorrow submit to the RIK the proposal for opening polling stations abroad and, according to the interest so far, the opening of 130 polling stations is expected.

‘The interest of our citizens in voting abroad is extraordinary — so far more than 73,000 have registered, and registration continues until October 3,’ Dinçiç said. He recalled that tomorrow is the deadline for the Foreign Ministry to submit the proposal and that the RIK must approve it by Sunday at the latest, Nova.rs reports. In the previous parliamentary elections, 80 polling stations were opened abroad. ‘Now the interest is significantly greater, and I hope the Foreign Ministry will not hinder it and will enable everyone to vote. For a polling station to open, at least 100 voters must be registered in that city,’ Dinçiç explained.

Voter-list review commission member Ognjen Rashuo also announced that so far a total of 73,000 decisions for voting abroad have been issued. In the previous elections, according to him, the number was around 40,000 — which speaks to the diaspora’s extraordinary interest in turning out in these parliamentary elections, despite the serious obstacles they faced in recent weeks in trying to register new polling stations. Registration continues until October 3, while the municipal voter lists close on October 9.