The pre-election period generally passed in a peaceful atmosphere with isolated cases of violations of the election law and rules. Since no major improvements were made in the legal framework for the election process, some key issues were left unsolved.
‘The practice of trading Polling Station Committee places between political subjects continues; almost 50% of voters in Brčko District do not have entity citizenship and thus cannot vote; the misuse of public resources by political parties and public officials is common; and the official deadlines for the start of the election campaign were not respected’, said Jelena Tanasković, the Coalition’s legal advisor.
According to the report, improvements of the election process include that the election laws and bylaws give a solid base for the conduct of free and fair elections. Also, the number of women in election administration has increased; the number of accredited non-partisan observers has quadrupled; the process of political subjects’ verification is transparent; the election administration has been professional; and the training process of Polling Station Committees’ members has improved.
Coalition Director Dario Jovanović said that the Coalition will have 3,000 observers across the country, present in polling stations in all 142 municipalities, and in mobile teams on election day.
‘For the first time the following two activities will be done: comparison of voting results with the CEC’s results in order to prevent potential irregularities that could influence voters’ free will and prevent falsification of results; and SMS reporting on the election process. Observers will be present during the entirety of election day, observing the opening of polling stations, voting process, closing of polling stations, and counting process’, said Jovanović.
The Coalition invited all citizens to vote and all participants in the election process to contribute to free and fair elections with their activities.
‘Coalition Pod Lupom also believes that great interest has been shown in non-partisan observation in this year’s elections and invites all observers to perform their duties professionally, impartially, and objectively’ said Jan Zlatan Kulenović, member of the Strategic Committee.
