Citizens are invited to become observers; political subjects to respect election rules
The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” commenced a civil, non-partisan observation mission for the 2024 Local Elections. 56 long-term observers (LTOs) from almost 50 CSOs throughout BiH are participating in the observation mission whilst 1,000 Election Day observers will be engaged on Election Day.
In the next three months, LTOs will work on observing the work of local election commissions and compliance with the deadlines prescribed by the election calendar, implementing pilot projects for the introduction of new technologies in elections, recording and reporting election irregularities and fraud, and training Election Day observers. The long-term observers will report on their activities on a weekly basis. In the Coalition “Pod lupom” they said that they will publish all findings in a timely manner, and report any violation of election rules to the competent institutions.
Non-partisan election observation restores citizens’ confidence in the electoral process and significantly influence on the prevention of electoral irregularities. In addition, thanks to the latest amendments to the BiH Election Law that strengthen the integrity of elections and prevent proven election theft and fraud as well as to new technologies that are being piloted, there are good foundations for freer and fairer elections. – they said in the Coalition “Pod lupom”.
We remind you that 4 of the 5 priority recommendations of the Coalition “Pod lupom” have been implemented with the latest amendments to the BiH Election Law. These recommendations relate to the reform of Polling Station Committees and the introduction of new technologies in the electoral process, namely electronic voter identification, ballot scanners and the transmission of election results from the polling station. Two years ago, 100,000 citizens signed the Coalition’s petition for the introduction of new technologies. The voice of the citizens was heard, and their demands are finally starting to be realized.
In the next three months, the Coalition “Pod lupom” will actively work on monitoring the electoral process and eliminating electoral irregularities.
The Coalition “Pod lupom“ has already sent 45 reports of electoral irregularities that fall into the categories of premature election campaign and abuse of public resources, even before the long-term observation of the 2024 Local Elections has started. Therefore, we call on all political subjects and candidates in the elections to respect the election rules, and all institutions to cooperate in the period to come – they said in the Coalition “Pod lupom”.
The Coalition “Pod lupom” reminds citizens they can register as non-partisan Election Day observers and report all election irregularities to the Coalition “Pod lupom” via the toll-free phone number 080 05 05 05 or via online forms available at www.podlupom .org.
