The Coalition “Pod lupom”: The Winners elected; Voter turnout lower

The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” presents the findings of its observation of the voting process on Election Day by 7:00 p.m., the close of the polls,  voter turnout by  7:00 p.m., with reference to the most frequent election irregularities and results pertaining to the election of mayors and city mayors.   

The Coalition’s results for the mayors/city mayors

The Coalition “Pod lupom” also processed the results of voting to elect mayors and city mayors at a statistically representative sample of the polling stations (so-called PVT).

The Coalition’s results for the City Mayor of the City of Bihać

1. DAMIR ĐUG 3.43 % (with a margin of error of 0.53+/- %)
2. ELVEDIN SEDIĆ 40.74 % (with a margin of error of 2.85 +/- %)
3. AMARILDO MULIĆ 9.09 % (with a margin of error of 1.61+/- %)
4. ADNAN HABIBIJA 22.44 % (with a margin of error of 1.89 +/- %)
5. HAMDIJA ABDIĆ 24.29 % (with a margin of error of3.28% +/- %)

The Coalition’s results for the City Mayor of the City of Srebrenik

1. ADNAN BJELIĆ 52.84% (with a margin of error of 5.41 +/- %)
2. NERMIN TURSIĆ 47.16% (with a margin of error of5.41 +/- %)

The Coalition’s results for the City Mayor of the City of Tuzla

1. DERVIŠ ČIČKO 09% (with a margin of error of 0.65 +/- %)
2. MIRNES AJANOVIĆ 29.20% (with a margin of error of 2.22 +/- %)
3. HALID ŽIGIĆ 1.20% (with a margin of error of0.34 +/- %)
4. ZIJAD LUGAVIĆ 47.74 % (with a margin of error of 1.66 +/- %)
5. ALMIR ARNAUT 1.27% (with a margin of error of 0.30 +/- %)
6. OMER BERBIĆ 18.50% (with a margin of error of 14 +/- %)

The Coalition’s results for the Mayor of the municipality of Bratunac

1. LAZAR PRODANOVIĆ 83% (with a margin of error of3.27 +/- %)
2. SRĐAN RANKIĆ 38.17% (with a margin of error of 27 +/- %)

The Coalition’s results for the Mayor of the municipality of Vogošća

1. ADNAN ŠERAK 37.45% (with a margin of error of 3.32 +/- %)
2. MIGDAD HASANOVIĆ 62.55% (with a margin of error of 3.32 +/- %)

Voter turnout

The Coalition “Pod lupom” also monitors the voter turnout. The registered turnout in the 2023 Early Elections by 6:30 p.m. is as follows: BIHAĆ 31.3% (with a margin of statistical error of +/- 1.83% on an interval of .95 percent accuracy); BRATUNAC 49.1% (with a margin of statistical error of +/- 3.76% on an interval of .95 percent accuracy); SREBRENIK 33.9% (with a margin of statistical error of +/- 2.39% on an interval of .95 percent accuracy); TUZLA 23.9% (with a margin of statistical error of +/- 1.39% on an interval of .95 percent accuracy) and VOGOŠĆA 29.8% (with a margin of statistical error of +/- 1.42% on an interval of .95 percent accuracy);

Election irregularities

During the Election Day, the Coalition “Pod lupom” reacted to a total of 14 serious election irregularities. Totally 12 objections were filed and entered in the Minutes on operation of the polling station committees. Most of these refers to more than 10 cases of family voting and returning voters from the polling station. The latter involved sending the voters to another polling station. The most serious situations were recorded in Bratunac, where there was registered a case of the so-called “Bulgarian train”, which was prevented. According to the information available to the Coalition “Pod lupom”, one member of the polling station committee was replaced, while a criminal charge will be filed against the person who brought two ballots at the polling station (104B005). The additional incident took place in Bihać (003A049), where a physical encounter occurred between an observer of a political entity and a member of the polling station committee, and where voting was interrupted for a while (for 25 minutes). Attempts to take a picture of ballots were reported in several cases, especially in Bihać. Members of the polling station committees reacted adequately and prevented voters from taking pictures of the ballots.

The voting process by 07:00 p.m.

Open persuasion to vote for a certain political subject was registered at two polling stations, (in Bratunac (104B003) and Srebrenik (049A004).

Up to ten cases where voters were returned from the polling station because they were not on the Extract from the Central Voters’ List were registered at 35.6% of polling stations, while more than 10 cases of this irregularity were registered at one polling station in Bihać (003A013). Observers of the Coalition “Pod lupom” reported up to ten cases of family voting at 27.4% of polling stations. More than ten cases of family voting were registered at one polling station in Srebrenik (049A015).

Up to ten cases involving persons not following the new procedure pertaining to assisting other person were reported at 29 polling stations.

At 57 polling stations, up to 10 cases of the voter’s name and surname being read aloud during identification were registered, while more than 10 cases of this irregularity were reported at five polling stations, three in Srebrenik (049A055, 049A016 and 049A009) and one each in Bihać ( 003A062B) and Vogošća (135A044).

At 11 polling stations, up to ten cases were reported involving the same person who two or more times provided voting assistance to physically disabled, blind or illiterate voters.

At two polling stations, in Bratunac (104B020) and Srebrenik (049A026), up to 10 cases of voting without valid identification documents were reported. Also, at one polling station in Bihać (003A034) the 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.

The closing of the polling stations

The closing of the polling stations mostly followed regulations. All polling stations, at which Coalition’s observers were deployed, were closed at 7:00 p.m., with the exception of one polling station in Bihać (003A049), which was closed at 7:15 p.m. At six polling stations, voters who found themselves in front of the polling station were not allowed to vote (at two polling stations in Bratunac and at one polling station each in Bihać, Tuzla, Srebrenik and Vogošća).

The process of counting votes and packaging election materials

Irregularities pertaining to the packaging of election materials were reported at one polling station in Bihać (003A047). At one polling station in Bihać (003A074), all members of the polling station committee failed to sign the Reconciliation Form and the Summary Results Form. At 18 polling stations, it was possible to enter the polling stations after they were closed. The yellow copy of the Summary Results Form was not posted at two polling stations in Vogošća (135A023 and 135A033). Observers experienced pressure during their work at three polling stations, two in Tuzla (050A083 and 050A126) and one in Vogošća (135A036).