BS
The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC BiH) has rejected requests submitted by the Pod lupom Coalition and Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) for access to data recorded by voter identification devices and ballot scanners, which could help detect potential election manipulation. The requests sought information on voter turnout at individual polling stations, as well as the number of voters who could not be identified through fingerprint verification. The organisations also requested a list of polling stations where one or more of the technologies could not be used, as well as those where discrepancies were identified between electronic and manual vote counts.
The CEC BiH refused to disclose this information, while the election results have since been certified. At the session where the access to information request was considered, it was stated that the requested data could be misinterpreted if made public.
“These are individual pieces of data which, if taken out of context, could be interpreted in different ways and could create a completely misleading picture in the public eye,” said CEC BiH member Suad Arnautović, adding that the data would not be disclosed until the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina had discussed the matter.
TI BiH and the Pod lupom Coalition consider this decision unlawful and will therefore initiate legal proceedings, as the issue concerns the protection of the integrity of the electoral process. It should be noted that the new election technologies were introduced precisely because, in previous election cycles, independent election observation, numerous court proceedings and graphological analyses had established widespread manipulation of voters’ ballots. The identified irregularities included voting on behalf of other individuals (most commonly deceased persons and those who did not turn out to vote), multiple voting, abuse of assisted voting, violations of ballot secrecy and electoral fraud, including adding votes to blank ballot papers, adding preferential votes and/or deliberately invalidating valid ballots. The electronic voter identification and authentication system was intended to prevent identity fraud, while the scanners were intended to prevent manipulation of ballot papers and vote counts. The non-use or improper application of either technology could have enabled further manipulation. In addition to media reports, certain official data have also raised concerns that such practices may have occurred.
For example, officially published voter turnout figures show an unusual increase in turnout between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. in numerous local communities. Data collected by the Pod lupom Coalition from a representative sample of polling stations show that, at only 55.8% of the polling stations observed, the number of ballots cast for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina matched the number of voters identified using the identification devices. Discrepancies exceeding ±3 votes were recorded at 6.5% of the observed polling stations. Furthermore, TI BiH’s analysis identified more than 500 polling stations where indicators were observed which, according to international practice and electoral data analysis, point to potential electoral irregularities. These include polling stations reporting voter turnout above 80% (almost twice the average), a share of invalid ballots exceeding 15%, or a concentration of more than 80% of votes for a single candidate.
Furthermore, the process of introducing the new election technologies was marked by a significant lack of transparency. To this day, it remains unclear how the election results were processed and determined, which results were made publicly available, whether they were subsequently changed compared to the preliminary results, and why no comparison has been published between the official turnout figures recorded by the new election technologies and the number of ballots cast, or between the electronic and manual vote counts. It is also unclear which turnout figure is displayed on the official election results website: the figure recorded by the voter identification devices or the number of processed ballots recorded by the scanners.
Given that the election results have been certified and that no polling station has had its results annulled, we believe that all obstacles to disclosing information on the operation and use of the new election technologies have been removed. This includes voter turnout at individual polling stations, as well as data on voting patterns and procedures – in other words, all information undoubtedly held by the CEC BiH that could help analyse the electoral process.
TI BiH and the Pod lupom Coalition urge the CEC BiH to immediately disclose all requested data. Refusing to release information on the electoral process in its possession could further undermine public confidence and fuel speculation about potential new irregularities.
