Press release - CG024(2016)

Congress mission presents preliminary conclusions further to the observation of local elections held in Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Sarajevo, 3 October 2016 - At a press conference in Sarajevo, Stewart Dickson (United Kingdom, ILDG), Head of the Congress Election Observation Mission, presented today the preliminary findings of the monitoring of the elections of mayors and council members held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday. With the exception of a few violent incidents and some irregularities, polling was carried out in a calm and orderly manner, generally in line with international standards, according to the Congress' Rapporteur. It was regrettable, however, that there were again no elections held in Mostar, due to unsuccessful negations between the political stakeholders. Moreover, the Rapporteur referred to recurring issues of elections in the country and the need to reform related, in particular, to the quality of voters' lists, the prevention of electoral fraud and the protection of secrecy of the vote.

The 32 member-delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe which included four members of the EU Committee of the Regions and their Spokesperson Adam Banaszak (Poland, ECR) visited some 150 polling stations throughout the country.  Apart from a few regrettable incidents, notably in Srebrenica and Stolac, which have cast a shadow over the Election Day, polling was managed, by and large, effectively by the Polling Station Commissions. "With regard to the Central Election Commission, we had the impression that everything was done to prepare these elections professionally", Stewart Dickson added.

At the same time, there is need to improve the implementation of  legal provisions and practical rules for elections according to the Congress observers who noticed, among other irregularities, the use of mobile phones during polling, instances of family voting and dubious cases of "assisted voting". Also, the secrecy of the vote was not always respected, often due to the lack of space in the polling stations, and the Congress teams heard allegations of vote-buying, not only in form of cash money but also other benefits.

With regard to further recurring issues of transversal importance, the Congress Rapporteur mentioned the quality of voters' lists and the fact that individuals remain on these lists who have already left the county many years ago and reside - de facto - abroad. “We acknowledge that the system of the so-called "tendered ballots" has been overhauled for these elections, nonetheless, we believe that only individuals who permanently reside in a specific municipality should decide on local matters, thus the voters' lists should be modified accordingly”, Dickson underlined. 

Another matter of concern was the level of transparency of procedures, in particular with regard to the vote counting. The Congress delegation welcomed the fact that the Central Election Commission has been advocating a new procedure for the so-called "correct counting" in case of doubtful results reported by polling stations. However, overall, the implementation of effective safeguards against any kind of manipulation during the counting needs to be addressed.

In respect of the overall situation of local democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Congress’ delegation noticed that political allegiance - also at the local level - still is based on ethnic identity including nationalistic attitudes. There is lack of clear-cut responsibilities for local self-government issues, in particular at the level of the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A new law on local self-government is under way in Republika Srpska and the Congress will follow-up its consequences closely.

Recalling the international commitment to strengthen democracy, including at the grassroots' level, the EU Committee of the Regions Spokesperson Adam Banaszak pointed to the EU enlargement policy and the importance of the pre-accession instruments in order to assist the country for the further consolidation of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

"The fact that the Congress was the only international observer group to assess yesterday's elections is a proof of our firm conviction to stand by Bosnia and Herzegovina, also in the future”, Dickson concluded.

The detailed Congress Report and Recommendation will be debated at the Plenary Session in March next year in Strasbourg.

Contacts:

Renate ZIKMUND, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Head of the Division of Local and Regional Election Observation, Phone: + 33 659 786 455, email: [email protected]

Arwen THIERRY, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Communication Officer, Phone: +33 3 88 41 22 92 / +33 6 50 39 29 01, email: [email protected]

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Planning, Coordination and institutional Communication Unit
Tel: +33 (0)3 90 21 48 95
Fax:+33 (0)3 88 41 27 51
[email protected]
www.coe.int/congress