Delays in the formation of MECs continue despite the expiration of deadlines for the MECs to have completed several activities, such as announcing early voters’ lists, determining the type and number of polling stations, and allocating seats on election committees to political parties and coalitions. The deadline for determining the type and number of polling stations was August 8. By this deadline, 130 MECs determined the number and type of polling stations, while the other 12 did not do so, for which the BiH Election Law predicts fines ranging from 200 to 1,000 BAM.
The Coalition would like to point out that recent amendments to the Election Law require that the membership of each Municipal Election Commission and the electoral committee must include 40 percent of the under-represented gender.
It is difficult to fulfil this request for the 80 municipalities where the law prescribes three members of the MEC, but it is worrying that seven commissions do not include any members of the under-represented gender.
Likewise, there are 10 additional Municipal Election Commissions lacking sufficient gender representation, despite the fact that these commissions are sufficiently large to allow for proper implementation of the law. These 10 municipalities are Vitez, Foča, Čajniče, Istočni Stari Grad, Konjic, Ugljevik, Lopare, Teočak, Zvornik and Bratunac.
During July, the Coalition observers have not noticed major changes in the registration and de-registration of residences, in terms of either a drastic increase or decrease in the number of voters, which could suggest an effort to influence the election results.
Long-term observers have recorded five events that can be characterized as campaign events, which have occurred during the period in which such activities are prohibited by law. The Coalition submitted documentation to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for a case where there is suspicion of a violation of rules and regulations regarding the conduct of the election campaign before its official beginning.
The Coalition continues its comprehensive activities to inform the public about its campaign for non-partisan monitoring of the upcoming elections. For this purpose, it held more than 400 meetings with Municipal Election Commissions, NGOs, the media, and representatives of political parties and other actors in the electoral process. At the same time, the Coalition also expressed satisfaction with the cooperation with all bodies in charge of election process starting from CEC BIH to almost all Municipal Election Commissions.
Coalition for Free and Fair Elections – Pod Lupom invites the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to apply to become non-partisan observers on Election Day by September 15, as well as to report any election irregularities. This can be done through the website podlupom.org or by calling the free telephone number, 080 05 05 05.
