The Analysis of the transparency of the polling station committees, created by the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom”, confirmed the presence of the so-called trading of seats in the polling station committees, which have been pointed out for years and which is why it is necessary to urgently start with changes pertaining to the Election Law of BiH.
The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” has been warning the public about this illegal practice for almost 10 years and is asking for the introduction of mechanisms so to prevent the trading of seats in the polling station committees. In accordance with this, an Analysis was created, the only one of its kind so far, which through clear indicators, such as a large number of cases indicating the potential trading of seats in the polling station committees, confirms the presence of irregularities that must be eliminated.
“Of the 4,337 members of polling station committees that were the subject of the Analysis that encompassed almost all municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for more than 17%, more precisely in 747 cases, the research showed that there is a connection with the potential suspicion of trading seats in polling station committees. More precisely, in the majority of cases, the Analysis depict persons who were on the lists of polling station committees for the 2022 General Elections but also for the 2020 Local Elections, who represented various political entities. These data are significant, because they reflect the situation at all polling stations in BiH and can be used to consider all future changes and improvements to the electoral legislation in order to prevent such occurrences and violations of the law in the future”, it was pointed out at today’s press conference which was organized to present the results of the Analysis of the transparency of polling station committees.
In accordance with the data recorded, during November and December 2022, the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” sent to the Central Election Commission of BiH Initiatives so to initiate proceedings against persons engaged in the election administration and political entities for violating the provisions of the Election Law of BiH, i.e. falsely representation or abuse of the legal right to participate in the work of the polling station committee in 43 cases from 25 municipalities/cities. These cases mostly related to the fact that persons publicly supported other political entities or were members of other political entities on behalf of which they were not appointed to the membership of the polling station committees for the 2022 general elections. In addition to this, information on 598 cases with suspicion on the so-called trading of seats in polling station committees was sent to the BiH CEC for further proceedings but there were no adequate evidence to support these suspicions.
In the end, the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” concluded that in the current, non-election year, a serious revision of the existing provisions, practices and irregularities related to the appointment and work of polling station committees should be undertaken as soon as possible. This is necessary in order to achieve improvements that will provide more transparent and efficient work of this part of the electoral administration, which will be based on respect for the law and the principles of integrity in the electoral process.
