The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections Pod lupom presents the findings of its observation of the voting process on Election Day by 7 pm, the close of the polls, and voter turnout by 6:30 pm, with reference to the most frequent election irregularities and reports by citizens.
Election irregularities
On Election Day, the Pod lupom Coalition reacted to a total of 83 serious election irregularities. 16 objections were filed and entered in the Minutes of operation of the polling station committees. Most of these irregularities refer to the voting process irregularities (third-assistance voting, pressure on voters, family voting, assistance to vote without supporting documentation) and pressure on voters (political party activists in and around the polling station rooting for political parties).
Reports from citizens
Citizens filed 90 reports with the Coalition: among the leading cases are 33 reports concerning the deceased persons on voter lists, 14 reports on pressures on voters in the vicinity of a polling station, 10 cases of non-compliance with the new procedure for leaving an imprint of the stamp and signing ballot papers, four reports on vote buying, violation of election silence and voting on behalf of other people, etc.
The voting process by 7 pm
Voting irregularities such as handing over multiple ballot papers to one person, one person voting multiple times, or one person voting multiple times on behalf of persons not present at a polling station were registered at 40 polling stations.
Member of the polling station in charge of handing over ballot papers did not leave an imprint of the stamp and sign front sides of each ballot below the text reading “Voting Instruction” in the lower left corner stamp at 20 polling stations. This irregularity may have as a result that there will be a larger number of ballot papers with stamps and signatures than the number of voters who voted, which leaves room for abuse of such unused ballot papers.
Pressures on voters to vote for a particular political subject were registered at 38 polling stations; intimidations and pressures on voters were registered at 13 polling stations.
Up to ten cases where the name and surname of a voter were read aloud during their identification were registered at every fifth polling station. More than ten cases of this type of irregularity were registered at 31 polling stations. This procedure was altered since the last elections in BiH, and the name and surname of a voter should not be read aloud.
Voting without prior checking of the prescribed identification documents was registered at 17 polling stations, whereas this type of irregularity was registered more than 10 times at one polling station.
Up to ten cases of sending voters away from a polling station for not being on the excerpt from the Central Voter Register were registered almost at half of the polling stations, while more than ten such cases were registered at 11 polling stations.
The Coalition’s observers registered up to ten cases of family voting at every other polling station in the country. More than ten cases of family voting were registered at 11 polling stations.
The new third-person assistance procedure was not complied with at 21% of the polling stations (up to ten cases). More than ten cases of this irregularity were registered at seven polling stations.
Up to ten cases where the same person was assisting multiple voters to vote in a voting booth were registered at 15% of the polling stations, while more than such cases were registered at four polling stations.
A longer presence of unauthorized persons was registered at 23 polling stations.
The Closing of the Polls
The closing of the polling station was mostly in line with election rules and regulations The number of polling stations that closed at 7 p.m. is 80%; 16.5% of the polling stations closed by 7:15 pm and the remaining 3.5% closed by 8 p.m. All members of the polling station committees were not present at the closing of the polls at five polling stations. Persons were allowed to enter the polling stations after the close of the polls at 12 polling stations.
Voter Turnout by 6:30 pm
The Pod lupom Coalition monitors the voter turnout information. The registered voter turnout in the 2022 General Elections in BiH by 6:30 pm was 50.3% (with a marginal error of +/- 1,11% at a 0.99 confidence interval).
The process of determining stock figures
Pens were found at the counting desks after the opening of the ballot box at 1.9% of the polling stations. Unused ballot papers were not packed in the original boxes and were not together with envelopes with spoiled ballot papers and pens other than red stored in a protective bag at 3.4 % of the polling stations. One observer of the Pod lupom Coalition was not able to observe the counting process at one polling station.
