The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued a decision to annul the early elections for the President of Republika Srpska at 136 polling stations in 17 constituencies, which is not final and can be appealed.
The early elections were annulled at certain polling stations in Prijedor, Laktaši, Banja Luka, Doboj, Stanari, Lopare, Ugljevik, Osmaci, Vlasenica, Zvornik, Bratunac, Nevesinje, Gacko, Rudo, Bileća, Milići and Brčko.
The CEC session said that this decision was made after numerous irregularities were identified, including the fact that 908 voters in the early elections voted without a valid personal document.
“The CEC conducted a scanning procedure of the minutes of the work of the polling stations, obtained copies of signatures from personal documents so that they could be compared with the signatures on the extracts from the Central Voters’ Register, and based on these actions, the forgery of the signatures was determined,” it was stated at the session.
Commission member Vanja Bjelica-Prutina said during the discussion that this decision was based on a correct and fully established state of facts, but that it was not final, and that it could be appealed.
She explained that the decision to annul the early elections included only those polling stations where a forensic expert determined the forgery of the signatures.
CEC member Željko Bakalar said that according to the established results, the difference between the two candidates is about 9,500 votes, while the difference at these 136 polling stations is 15,822 votes.
If this decision becomes final after the appeal process, the CEC will call for new elections at the polling stations where they were annulled.
