The analysis confirmed that there is trading of seats in electoral committees

The analysis of the transparency of polling boards, conducted by the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Under Scrutiny”, confirmed the existence of the so-called trading of seats in electoral committees, which have been pointed out for years, which is why it is necessary to urgently start with changes to the BiH Election Law. The “Under Scrutiny” coalition has been warning about this illegal practice for almost a decade and is asking for the introduction of mechanisms to prevent the trading of seats in electoral committees.
4,337 polling stations analyzed
Accordingly, an analysis was carried out, the only one of its kind so far, which through clear indicators, such as a large number of cases indicating the potential trading of seats in electoral committees, confirms the existence of irregularities that must be eliminated.
“Of the 4,337 members of polling committees that were the subject of an analysis carried out in almost all municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for over 17%, more precisely 747 cases, the research showed a connection to the potential suspicion of trading seats in polling committees. Specifically, in the majority of cases, it is about persons who were on the lists of electoral committees for the General Elections in 2022, but also for the Local Elections in 2020, who came in front of different political subjects. These data are significant, because they depict the situation at all polling stations in BiH and can be used to consider all future changes and improvements to the electoral legislation in order to prevent such occurrences and violations of the law in the future”, it was pointed out at the press conference held on Wednesday. on the occasion of the presentation of the results of the Analysis of the Transparency of Electoral Boards.
Necessary revision
In accordance with the recorded data, during November and December 2022, the Coalition sent the Central Election Commission of BiH initiatives to initiate proceedings against persons engaged in the election administration and political entities for violating the provisions of the Election Law of BiH, i.e. false representation or abuse of the legal right to participate in work of the electoral committee in 43 cases from 25 municipalities/cities. These cases mostly related to the fact that persons publicly supported other political entities or were members of other political entities, before which they were not appointed as members of electoral committees for the 2022 General Election. In addition, information on 598 cases in which there is suspicion that the so-called trading of seats in electoral committees, but there is no adequate evidence to support these suspicions. In the end, the Coalition “Under Scrutiny” concluded that in the current, non-election year, a serious revision of the existing provisions, practices and irregularities related to the appointment and work of election committees should be undertaken as soon as possible.