"Vreme" learns: The Serbian Ministry did not even request additional polling stations from Germany

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia did not send a request to the German side to open additional ones at all polling stations in Germany, "Vreme" learns.

As they told us at the German embassy in Belgrade, there is only a request that polling stations be opened in the embassy and consulates.

These are standard polling stations in Berlin, Munich, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.

However, diaspora organizations associated with the student movement have long claimed that there is a great interest - certainly for over a hundred voters prescribed by law - for Cologne, Hanover, Nuremberg and Karlsruhe.

Sokolac instead of Dubai

The Republican Electoral Commission, in which government delegates hold the majority, ignored this and did not include those cities in the list of polling stations. According to a similar system, Vancouver, San Diego or Dubai were eliminated.

REC has significantly increased only the number of polling stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where there are a total of 28, for example in Sokolac or Vlasenica.

As sources from earlier meetings with representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told "Vreme", as an excuse for not opening additional polling stations in Germany, it was stated that the German side did not give approval.

However, Germany never received those requests, according to the country's embassy.

"Until now, there has been no request for the opening of additional polling stations outside the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Serbia in Germany," he wrote in the answer to "Vreme".

They add that the German government normally quickly and routinely checks all requests and decides on them.

Disruption of the diaspora

According to our sources, the Serbian Ministry, despite the warnings, delayed until the last moment with the official letter to their German colleagues, playing for time.

Then the REC made the decision on Monday (October 5) because the deadline to define the polling stations is twenty days before the elections. In addition, the RIK decided to vote according to the local, Serbian time zone, so people in Los Angeles, Toronto or Beijing will go to the polls - at night.

According to unofficial data, out of about 110.000 people who registered to vote in the diaspora - which is a convincing record - as many as 30.000 of them cannot vote where they wanted because there are no polling stations.

This includes the mentioned cities, but also bizarre cases such as Bratislava, where construction work is allegedly underway at the embassy, ​​so there is no polling station.

Speaking on this topic, the recent president Aleksandar Vučić succinctly said that it is a "good will" to open additional polling stations, and that the law does not stipulate that they must.

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