REPORT OF CIVIL ON THE REFERENDUM IN GEVGELIA UNTIL 17:00

Insufficiently informed citizens about the referendum question and the procedures for conducting the Referendum, minor flaws in the work of the Election Boards, as well as problems with the Voters Register, are the key remarks of the observers of CIVIL- Center for Freedom during the Referendum in Gevgelia until 17:00h.

The Referendum in Gevgelia that is supposed to solve the issue on whether or not the Municipality of Gevgelia will allow opening of mines, according to the monitoring team of CIVIL – Center for Freedom, started with a timely opening of all 37 polling stations.

Up to now, according to the reports of the observers, until 17:00h, the Referendum is being carried out in peaceful atmosphere.

The Gevgelia Municipal Election Commission informed that there had been a 40% turnout until 13:00h. According to unofficial information from our observers, the referendum turnout in several polling stations in Gevgelia has already exceeded 50% of the registered voters in the Municipality.

CIVIL will present a statement for the media with a preliminary report from the observation of the Referendum, after the voting ends at 19:00h, in front of the Municipal Court building in Gevgelia.

As always, CIVIL is open for reports from citizens, as well as contributions from citizen journalists. Reports on irregularities can be submitted at the following telephone numbers: 078/746-138 and 077/691-526, while the website Free elections is also available for reporting electoral irregularities. On this occasion, we remind the citizens that CIVIL recently also published an online Form for reporting political pressures, mobbing and discrimination. Reports can also be submitted through a message on the Facebook page Free Elections.

CIVIL will submit the reports to the Municipal Election Commission in Gevgelia, and will inform the public about the referendum through announcements, articles on CIVIL Media’s website and through information on CIVIL’s social networks.

Over 19.000 residents of the Municipality of Gevgelia have the right to vote at the referendum, in 37 polling stations.

CIVIL has been monitoring the preparations for the referendum from the moment the members of the Gevgelia Municipal Council unanimously decided to conduct the referendum.