The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” planned to conduct a civic, non-partisan election observation mission for the Repeat Early Elections for the President of the Republika Srpska from among the Serb people at all 136 polling stations across 17 electoral units, to be held on Sunday, 8 February 2026. However, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC BiH) has refused to accredit additional non-partisan observers from the “Pod lupom” Coalition.
The “Pod lupom” Coalition does not have a sufficient number of already accredited observers in Zvornik, Doboj, Laktaši, and Bratunac to cover all polling stations in the Repeat Early Elections. The CEC’s decision to prevent the accreditation of additional observers harms the electoral process and restricts observers’ rights. According to the CEC Instruction and media reports, an identical situation applies to party-affiliated observers as well.
The Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina stipulates only that repeat elections are to be conducted on the basis of the same candidate lists and the same extracts from the Central Voters Register used in the annulled elections; this provision does not apply to observers. Furthermore, in 2021, during the Repeat Elections in Doboj and Srebrenica, the CEC accredited additional observers without any difficulty. It is therefore clear that the current decision of the CEC is arbitrary and represents an exercise of discretion to the detriment of the public interest and the integrity of the elections.
The “Pod lupom” Coalition calls for the urgent amendment of Article 6, paragraph (1) of the Instruction on the Procedure for Conducting the Repeat Elections for the President of the Republika Srpska, and for enabling the additional accreditation of observers on election day.
Election oversight by non-partisan observers is in the interest of all stakeholders—first and foremost citizens and voters, but also the electoral administration, political parties, and candidates—and contributes to the overall integrity of the electoral process.
