Home > 2.2 Polling station > MONTENEGRO - Urgent Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Elections of Members of Parliament and Councillors
 
 
 
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Paragraph 76
 

In a welcome development, the draft law specifies in Article 116 that ballot papers are valid if it is possible to establish the will of the voter. Moreover, in contested cases, the draft law obliges polling boards to determine the will of voters by voting on the validity of a ballot paper. However, the grounds for the invalidation of ballots were somewhat widened to include cases when the name of a candidate list is added in handwriting and when ballot papers are signed. The latter is a useful provision for eliminating the possibility for voters to be identified, as well as to prevent breaches of secrecy and potential voter pressure.