CIVIL’s observers are monitoring the election rerun in polling station 2011 in Tearce from 6:30h this morning. Today’s initial reports show that the election material at the polling station was not organized on time, though it was complete. Voting started several minutes after 7:00. The turnout until 9:30 was relatively low, that is, just a little over 50 of a total of 714 voters had realized their right to vote.
There was a half-hour break in the voting, during which eight or more voters had been turned back from the polling station. The reason for the interruption is that at 8:30h one of the UV lamps stopped working, and the second one stooped working at 8:55h, after which the voting was interrupted. Although the Electoral Board claims that the interruption lasted ten minutes, the problems with the UV lamps did, however, take away half an hour from the voting process.
The large number of journalist teams are additionally contributing to the chaotic picture of polling station 2011 in Tearce. The communication between the Electoral Board and journalist teams is with a high tone, while cameramen and photo reporters are photographing and recording literally all voters separately. According to CIVIL’s observers, several citizens have complained of feeling uncomfortable under such media attention.
