The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” informs the public that on Election Day, the Coalition, in cooperation with 85 civil society organizations, informal groups, and individuals, engaged almost 2 000 civic, nonpartisan observers to monitor the entire electoral process at the polling stations and in the local election commissions. Data from the field is sent to the Coalition’s Call Center, while the Coalition’s legal team works to eliminate election irregularities, and reporting is done in real-time. All observers were allowed access to the polling stations to which they were assigned.
A serious violation of the Election law has been registered in Novi Grad in Republika Srpska, where, according to the latest information, the voting process has been interrupted. The situation concerns two bundles of marked ballot papers brought to the polling station in Hozići (007B051). According to the latest information the police are at the scene investigating this case.
In 89% of cases, all members of the polling station committees were present at the polling stations at 6.00 am.
The majority of polling stations did not register problems with the polling material, while ballot papers were not manually counted at less than 1% of polling stations.
The information that raises concerns is that the list of members of the polling stations showing the name of the appointing political subject for every member of the polling station committee was not displayed at almost 23% of polling stations in the country, which was a requirement. At almost 8% of the polling stations, the list is visible, but it shows the code instead of the name of the political subject.
Almost all polling stations observed the requirement to show empty ballot box before the opening of the polling station.
A total of 79% of polling stations opened exactly at 7 am; another 18% of polling stations opened by 7:15 am, and the remaining polling stations opened with up to one hour delay.
The secrecy of the vote was ensured at all polling stations i.e., all voting booths were arranged so that no one can see how a voter votes but in line with the new procedure requiring a voting booth to be facing observers and members of the polling station committees.
The Pod lupom Coalition calls on all political subjects to respect election rules and election silence. All political subjects are prohibited from participating in public political activities, such as rallies, or from influencing voters through the material in or around a polling station, or through any means of communication. The Coalition also calls on the media to not report on the activities related to the election campaign. The Coalition encourages citizens to cast their votes for it is the best way to prevent election fraud and not allow someone else to abuse their ballot papers.
The Pod Lupom Coalition calls on all citizens to contact the Coalition and report all observed irregularities either via the toll-free number 080 05 05 05, using the form ‘Prijavi izbornu nepravilnost’ (Report election irregularity) on the webpage www.podlupom.org or via social media networks.
The Coalition’s first press conference will take place at 11:00 am, at Hotel Hills in Sarajevo, followed by a press release.
