The Coalition under scrutiny has been submitting a series of recommendations for improving the electoral process to the competent institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Electoral reform must not be a matter of political competition, but a joint effort of all relevant social actors. It is well known that the 2022 elections were questionable due to lack of financial resources, and the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina managed to implement them with the help of High Representative Christian Schmidt.
In May 2022, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina encountered a number of obstacles and challenges in the conduct of the General Elections. One and certainly the most important is their funding. Huge efforts have been made to secure funding for maintenance, although this was not the obligation of this independent institution, but with the help of High Representative Christian Schmidt, who made three important decisions on June 7, 2022, including the Decision on approving the allocation of funds in the name of holding elections.
"With these moves, the High Representative has permanently removed the possibility of blocking and holding elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina by withholding financial resources. Therefore, the issue of financing all subsequent elections in BiH in the situation and when there is temporary financing is solved automatically and continuously. So, when the budget is not adopted, we will have the funds for the realization of the elections," said Suad Arnautovic, president of the CEC of BiH.
Political attacks, setbacks, blocking of key institutions and rhetoric of political parties that pointed to ethnic divisions, physical threats to members of CEC BiH - are just some of the attempts to make the integrity of the elections questionable and the trust of citizens gambled away.
"During the last elections, we cooperated with the institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina on a large number of activities and projects related to the improvement of electoral laws, strengthening the capacities of the Central Election Commission of BiH and election administration, as well as raising awareness of civil society when it comes to the process of democratization of the electoral process through cooperation projects," said Bojana Urumova. Head of the Council of Europe Office in Sarajevo.
Despite all the obstacles, the Central Election Commission of BiH successfully conducted the 2022 General Elections. Some of the novelties that facilitated the process itself is the electronic system of registering voters for voting outside BiH through the e-Elections portal. In order to prevent identity theft in the future, and the elections to be transparent, CEC BiH has also presented digital devices that will certainly be of great importance for the next elections. He will talk about it in more detail this Friday.