People born in 19th century still on voters' list

When we checked this information and the personal ID numbers of the citizens on the web-site of the Ministry for State and Local Administration (birackispisak.mduls.gov.rs), we found proof that persons born at the end of the 19th century were still on the voters' list.

The first seven digits in the ID number represent the date of birth, (date, month, year - ddmmyyy). Thus, a person whose personal ID number (JMBG) is 2005889xxxxxx (the entire number is known to Insajder.net), therefore, born on May 20th, 1889, who would be 127 years old today, is still in the voters' list for polling station number 62 in the municipality of New Belgrade.

A person with the JMBG 0211895xxxxxx, (November 2nd, 1895) which means that they would be 120 today, is still in the voters' list for polling station number 45 in the municipality of Vozdovac.

A voter of 117 years of age (JMBG 1005899xxxxxx) is in the list for polling station number 47 in the municipality of Stari Grad.
We have also established the polling stations where the remaining 20 such persons are listed.

Some ten days ago, the media reported that Milivoje Matejic, the oldest inhabitant of Serbia, born on February 5th, 1910, died in the town of Desin at the age of 107.

According to information we have obtained, the examples of persons in the voters' list who were born at the end of the 19th century, i.e. people who would be in their 120s, can be found in almost every municipality of Belgrade.

"Although the personal data of these people are still in the voters' list, that does not mean that they voted, i.e. that the data had been abused.
Still, this shows that the voters' list is not updated, and even that it is not precisely known how many voters here are in Serbia, which opens possibilities for abuses."

The Unified Voters' List is in the jurisdiction of the Ministry for State and Local Administration.

When Insajder.net inquired how it was possible that people born in the 19th century were still on the voters' list, the Ministry replied that it was "investing maximum effort into removing all possible omissions."

They stated that they had asked for a check for all voters older than 90, and they shifted the responsibility to other state services, and even to the citizens.

Considering that this was the year for regular local elections and provincial elections, the Ministry stated that it had informed all the employees in charge of the Unified Voters' List (a total of 145 of them) about the need to remove the possible omissions, already in December 2015.

"At the same time, the Ministry performed an extraordinary inspection in municipal and city administrations pertaining this issue. The Ministry has pointed out the need to check the voters older than 90, with the relevant services in charge of the registers," reads the reply of the Ministry.

They went on to state: "It stems from the above said that the state of the Unified Voters' List depends on the updated records of other state bodies, the local administration employees who update the Unified Voters' List on a daily basis, but also on the citizens and their responsibility in reporting certain changes."

The Ministry also stated that the computer application for the Unified Voters' List was additionally improved in 2016, that the system was programmed to create reports about double entries, about voters older than 90 and voters with incomplete data, on the basis of which the local administration units should update the List (on the basis of additional checks).

"Through the updating of the application, but also through regular and extraordinary inspections, the Ministry is investing maximum effort into removing all the possible omissions," the Ministry stated.

Branislav Grkovic