The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” held a press conference so to present the Final Report on civic, non-partisan observation of the 2022 General Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Taking into account the entire election process, beginning with the day the elections have been announced through the confirmation of the election results, the Coalition “Pod lupom” assesses the 2022 General Elections in BiH as partly irregular.
The 2022 General Elections were held in challenging political circumstances. There were several attempts to prevent holding of elections through failure to provide financial means as well as through some announcements so to prolong the holding of the elections. The prelude to all of this was an intense negotiations on the electoral reform, which failed. Nevertheless, it can be positively assessed that limited improvements in the electoral process happened due to the decisions imposed by the BiH CEC and the High Representative in the BiH. Over the course of 2022, a total of 14 recommendations of the Coalition “Pod lupom” for better elections were partially or fully implemented. At the beginning of the year, more than 92,000 citizens from all around of Bosnia and Herzegovina signed a petition to introduce new technologies in the electoral process.
The pre-election period for the 2022 General Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina was marked by three key electoral irregularities: 1) prohibited campaigning, 2) illegal trading of seats in Polling Station Committees, and 3) pressure on voters.
More than 1,200 election irregularities were registered during the period of long-term election observation. Prohibited campaigning, misuse of public resources, engagement of public officials in the campaign of political entities and biased media coverage are among the most frequent irregularities.
If we observe the structure of electoral irregularities in the pre-election period per political subjects, the most electoral irregularities are attributed to SNSD (166), SDA (158), SDP BiH (71), HDZ BiH (56) and SDS (28). These five political parties account for three quarters of the total number of electoral irregularities that could be attributed to specific political subjects.
Progress during the pre-election period was made by preventing abuses pertaining to postal voting. The Coalition “Pod lupom” has been advocating for several years for the introduction of new security mechanisms pertaining to postal voting, which the BiH CEC finally introduced for the last elections. This initiative resulted in the fact that no irregularities of this type were reported, although in the 2020 Local Elections more than 5,000 cases of citizens’ identity theft were recorded. Also, an insignificant number of reports on deceased persons being on the voter’s list was recorded, which is a significant improvement compared to previous election cycles when there were suspicions that more than 10,000 deceased persons were on the voter list. Progress was also achieved in the sense that, for the first time, cases of prohibited campaigning, illegal trading of seats in Poling Station Committees and misuse of public resources have been sanctioned.
Election Day for the 2022 General Elections in BiH was marked with the three key characteristics: 1) minor irregularities during the voting process, 2) the continuation of the trend of other election irregularities and 3) low voter turnout.
A combination of several election irregularities that could have had an impact on the election result at those polling stations was registered at 6% of polling stations in the country, which is an increase compared to previous elections, which casts a shadow over the legality of conducting elections at these polling stations. Legal team of the Coalition “Pod lupom” was informed on registered 91 cases of serious violations of election rules. Most of the above mentioned was successfully resolved during the Election Day. The Coalition “Pod lupom” also processed the voting results for the members of the BiH Presidency, based on a representative statistical sample of polling stations, and during the election night the Coalition confirmed the results for the BiH Presidency. This is very important due to the fact that the confirmation of the election results is offered by an independent source. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of the political and electoral system, we can only perform this process for direct races. A record low voter turnout of 50.3% was also registered, the lowest since 2004.
The progress on Election day was achieved during the voting process (the period from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.), when fewer cases of family voting, abuse of voting assistance and pressure on voters in front of polling stations were recorded compared to the previous election cycle.
Unfortunately, the most significant election irregularities were recorded during the process of counting of votes, not only at the polling stations but also during the transportation of election materials and during entering the results into the system. These electoral irregularities were most often reflected in the misuse of unused ballots, the adding of votes for political like-minded people and the nullification of votes for political opponents.
Through its activities during the post-election period, the Coalition “Pod lupom” worked on post-election analyses, sent appeals to the BiH CEC demanding a recount, observation of a recount of votes in Local Election Commissions and Main Counting Center (MCC), as well as other activities.
The most significant activity was to observe the process of a recount of votes in the MCC. All votes for the level of the President and Vice President of the RS were counted again. Observers of the Coalition “Pod lupom” reported in real time on the results on the recounting process and also a comparison was made with the published preliminary results. The BiH CEC removed the preliminary results from its site during the process of a recount of votes, which made impossible to continue this process. Despite several letters and urges Coalition sent to the BiH CEC so to publish or submit preliminary results and the report from the MCC, the BiH CEC refused all requests, hiding information from the public and therefor the extent of election fraud.
Data based on 660 processed polling stations in five municipalities and cities in the RS for which we compared recounts and preliminary results in real time point out to the fact that the results in Doboj, Prijedor and Zvornik differed in two-thirds of polling stations. In 74% of cases where the difference in votes was more than 3 votes at the polling station level (which point out to the conscious manipulation of the electoral process), it was to the detriment of candidate Jelena Trivić. In the remaining 26% of cases where the difference in votes was more than 3 votes at the polling station level, it was to the detriment of other candidates for President and Vice President of the RS. In total, based on this sample of 105 polling stations with the differences higher than 3 votes, at least 1,100 votes were added to Milorad Dodik, at least 510 were stolen from Jelena Trivić and at least 200 votes were added to Senad Bratić. Please note that for the first time a proven election theft affected the outcome of an election race – the election of the vice president of the RS among the Bosniaks.
All above mentioned indicate that there existed conscious and targeted manipulations of the electoral process with the aim to influence the election results. The Coalition “Pod lupom” will file charges against the suspects and demand the Local Election Commission members in Doboj, Prijedor and Zvornik to be dismissed.
Unfortunately, citizens’ mistrust in the electoral process in Bosnia and Herzegovina seems to have never been greater. Questioning the election results, as well as proven election theft and fraud without consequences and sanctions for the perpetrators, pointing to the alarming state of democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Improvement of the electoral process is a necessity, and it would be difficult to organize the next elections in accordance to the same rules and without electronic identification of voters, scanning of ballots, entry of voting results from the polling station, and reform of Poling Station Committees. A greater role of prosecutors’ offices and the police in addressing voter pressure and other electoral fraud is of a crucial importance.
All above mentioned contributed to the fact that the Coalition “Pod lupom” assessed the 2022 General Elections in BiH as partly irregular.
The Final Report on civic, non-partisan observation of the 2022 General Elections can be downloaded HERE.
Additionally, considering that on Sunday, February 05, 2023 will be held early elections for the City Mayor of Bihać, Tuzla, Srebrenik and Zvornik and the Mayor of Vogošće and Bratunac, it was announced at the press conference that the Coalition “Pod lupom” will observe Election Day in all above-mentioned municipalities and cities except Zvornik. Around 400 civic, non-partisan observers will be deployed to all polling stations. Early elections in Zvornik will not be observed due to the fact that there is only one candidate running for elections in this city and because of which the Coalition “Pod lupom” will demand the current members of the Local Election Commission to be dismissed.
For the 2023 Early Elections, the Coalition “Pod lupom” will monitor opening and arrangement of polling stations, voting process, closing of polling stations, counting of votes, voter turnout and results for the election of mayors and city mayors, the work of election commissions and, if necessary, the work of the Main Counting Center. Observers of the Coalition “Pod lupom” will monitor all potential occurrences of election irregularities and try to eliminate them in order for the electoral process to proceed smoothly and in accordance with the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Coalition “Pod Lupom” 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. Also, Coalition calls on citizens to use their civic right and vote because that is the best way to prevent electoral fraud.
