Duraković: Genocide victims are registering to vote, while 2,000 Serbs from Serbia are fictitious voters

The campaign to register Srebrenica Bosniaks living abroad, launched almost a month ago for voting in the October elections, has caused considerable panic among Serb parties whose joint candidate for mayor is Mladen Grujičić.

Grujičić and representatives of Serb parties are warning that "Bosniaks are preparing new electoral engineering through mass registration of fictitious voters," writes the Patria News Agency.

Grujičić told "Glas Srpske" that Bosniaks are actively working to include about 3,000 fictitious voters on the voter list by mail.

- Ten young Bosniaks are employed in a call center in Srebrenica, registering individuals who were recorded in the 1991 census and live in European countries or America. This will result in a large number of registered Bosniak voters who have not visited here for over two decades, nor do they have personal identification issued in Srebrenica - says Grujičić.

He added that the municipal administration, on the orders of Mayor Ćamil Duraković, is issuing certificates of citizenship for these individuals even without their consent.

- This is an abuse of authority. The competent prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska should investigate these illegal actions - believes Grujičić.

The current mayor of Srebrenica and candidate for this position of pro-Bosniak parties in this year's October elections, Ćamil Duraković, tells Patria that Grujičić's statements are ridiculous.

- The issuance of certificates of citizenship is regulated by law, and the mayor cannot change it with any decision or order anyone to issue certificates. Such a statement by Grujičić only shows that he, as a candidate, does not know the laws, municipal regulations, or the powers and responsibilities of the mayor, yet he wants to be one - explains Duraković.

Duraković points out that the only thing true, according to the information he has, is that the number of people requesting certificates of citizenship has increased.

- The majority of them are Bosniaks, while a significant number of Serbs are also applying. We have made maximum efforts to encourage Srebrenica Bosniaks living scattered around the world to register and vote in as large numbers as possible, and this is something that is within the legal framework. Everything else Grujičić said is untrue - states Duraković.

He notes, most importantly, that these are not fictitious voters, but genocide survivors who had to leave Srebrenica, while among the Serbs, there are over 2,000 voters who left Srebrenica in the 1970s and are now registering to vote.

On the other hand, Grujičić and the bloc of Serb parties he represents are also working to encourage displaced Serbs to vote in the elections in large numbers.

- The coalition of all Serb political parties from Srebrenica, "Together for Srebrenica," calls on all Serbs "in the diaspora across Serbia and abroad" to vote on October 2nd for Mladen Grujičić.

For all those who wish to do so, transportation to Srebrenica will be organized, and for those who are unable to travel, the call is to vote by mail, and application forms can be found on the website izbori.ba., according to Grujičić's headquarters.