Constitutional referendum, day one

Constitutional referendum, day one

The turnout by 2 p.m. was 10.6 percent, RIK has announced. The first voter turnout results do not include Kosovo figures.

8,385 polling stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today.

All polling stations have opened in Vojvodina. The province’s politicians held different views on the new constitution proposal. Some called on the citizens to support it, others called for boycott.

Kosovo Albanians are ignoring the referendum, while the Kosovo assembly recently dubbed it a “constitutional aggression”. Kosovo Serbs will vote at 256 polling stations. The Kosovo electoral list contains approximately 100,000 names. Almost all polling stations have opened in the province this morning.

Kosovo Coordinating Center deputy chairman Nenad Popović said a high turnout was expected in the province.

“As far as security goes, everything’s in order”, Popović said. KFOR and Kosovo Police Service announced earlier that they will not undertake any additional measures during the two-day referendum vote.

Five polling stations originally planned to be opened in Priština and Kosovo Polje have been transferred to the Serb majority locations due to security concerns. Around 30 citizens arrived in Gračanica from Priština this morning to vote. 300 Serbs and a number of Albanians will vote in the same locations.

Tadić: a step forward; Koštunica: a new beginning

Serbian president Boris Tadić said after casting his vote in the constitutional referendum this morning that the proposed constitution represented a discontinuity with the Milošević era, that the proposal was better than the existing constitution, and that there will be plenty of time to make improvements.

“This vote is very important, we need to adopt the highest legal document and distance ourselves from the times that were not favorable for Serbia. Without a doubt this constitution is better than the previous and includes much that we can be proud of, we have, in the legal sense, taken a step forward”, Tadić said. Serbian prime minister Vojislav Koštunica said after voting that the new constitution worked to complete Serbia’s statehood, and that Serbia was on the threshold of a calmer, more stable time in its history.

“All those who today and tomorrow take part in this vote, will not only participate, but will be the creators of the new beginning and a new era in the history of Serbia”, Koštunica told journalists.

More referendum photos in our gallery.

LDP: Significant irregularities

The Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) president Čedomir Jovanović says the referendum turnout by 11 a.m. was 6.04 percent, with significant irregularities at the polling stations. Jovanović said those included “suggesting to voters whether to vote yes or no”.

As an example, Jovanović mentioned that the municipal officials in Topola “asked the referendum commission to have the referendum result at over 60 percent”. He added he was informed some parties had decided to withdraw their monitors form the polling stations and leave the Radicals and the Socialists to take care of the ballot.  

LDP and GSS have handed out leaflets in Niš calling on citizens to boycott the constitutional referendum.

LDP senior council member Srđan Pešić woke up to find all the tires on his car punctured this morning. Pešić believes the incident is related to the protest organized during the Serbian government session in Niš two days ago.

Radical slaps Democrat at polling station

Polling station number 66 in Novi Sad saw a Serb Radical Party (SRS) member slap Democratic Party (DS) electoral committee member Ivan Zorkić.

Radio 021 reported that a voter, declaring himself as an SRS member, slapped Zorkić after noticing he was pulling down Šešelj posters put up in the immediate vicinity of the polling station.

The Democrats have notified RIK on the incident. The voting later continued uninterrupted.