A series of complaints about electoral irregularities can be expected after the early elections for the President of Republika Srpska. While the SDS is determining the final number of suspicious polling stations that they will report, for the SNSD the preliminary results are enough to say: the story of the elections is over. The situation that repeats itself after every election could become a thing of the past if the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina completes the procurement of a biometric identification and scanning system on time.
First complaints about the tender for scanners
Tender announced, first complaints received, tender documentation corrected. Equipment for six thousand polling stations and other supporting elements is worth 88 million marks.
After the first complaints, the Central Election Commission changed the documentation and increased the value of the procurement, but it was not announced by how much.
The complaints that were partially accepted relate to technical and procedural issues. They were submitted by a foreign company, as well as domestic bidders “Shot” from Zenica and “Ultimax” from Banja Luka. Other details will probably be included in the report to parliament.
“Our obligation under the Law is to send a more comprehensive report to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH in the coming days on what we have done so far and what procedures we have taken,” said BiH CEC member Suad Arnautović.
There is less and less time for this procurement. The process is at risk of being suspended or slowed down due to complaints, even if the most favorable bidder is selected.
“We have elections next year, they are scheduled for May. So there is very little time left to implement the procedure and prepare a system for the implementation of new technologies,” warns Ivana Korajlić, Executive Director of Transparency International BiH.
Political entities who again have a large number of complaints about the voting process in the early elections for the President of Republika Srpska expect the Central Election Commission to be expeditious.
The SDS is analyzing dozens of polling stations where the results differ from the general trend. They expect a recount, graphological analysis and repeat voting. Having learned from previous experiences, they ultimately want to put an end to electoral fraud by the next elections.
“The solution is scanners, that’s why they are fighting against them so much, but we will insist, we will fight. Even if the elections next year are postponed, we must not engage in that electoral process without scanners,” says Aleksandra Pandurević (SDS).
Until then, the SNSD had called the election result of Siniša Karan for entity president a done deal. They reject the allegations and demands of the opposition, claiming that with the same logic they could demand a review of the results in Banja Luka, where they are 14 thousand votes short.
“We are not asking for repeat elections in Banja Luka, nor will they happen in Doboj or anywhere else because there were no irregularities that would indicate that,” said SNSD President Milorad Dodik.
“We fully believe in the work we have done in Banja Luka, Prijedor, Teslić, Prnjavor in Pale in every local community where we, as the Safe Srpska Movement, were tasked with reviewing everything,” said Draško Stanivuković, President of the Safe Srpska Movement.
The announcement of the final results of the early elections, after all remaining ballots have been counted, will be the signal for dozens of reports of irregularities in the electoral process.
