The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has announced the start of the introduction of new election technologies that should be used for the first time at polling stations across the country. However, it is not yet fully known how the new system will function in practice and what the entire election process will look like on election day. Will everything be ready by the given deadlines?
Biometric voter identification and ballot scanners represent the biggest change to the election process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the job worth tens of millions of marks has been awarded to a consortium led by the Sarajevo-based Smartmatic BH. The aforementioned company has committed to implementation within 139 days, and by then all the details of the election process should be known. The CEC believes that everything will be ready by the time of the elections.
The President of the CEC of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jovan Kalaba, emphasizes that he believes that new election technologies will be applied in the next elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The novelty will be the appearance and content of the ballot and the voting method itself, adapted to the use of scanners. The Central Election Commission also announces a detailed campaign to inform voters and the election administration.
The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Under the Spotlight” states that the CEC has transferred most of the implementation of the process to the company that supplies the equipment. According to the allegations, the CEC should not only deliver the equipment, but also adapt the election process to the conditions in BiH, create the final design and print the ballots, distribute and store the equipment, and train members of the polling stations in its use.
Former CEC member Vehid Šehić estimates that the most difficult part of the work is over and that there should be no problems in applying new technologies. He points out that the voting process remains the same as before, with the change that the ballots will be inserted into a scanner instead of a ballot box. He adds that abuses such as forging signatures and subsequently filling in unused ballots will be prevented.
Following the session, a press conference was held where the head of the CEC, Jovan Kalaba, addressed the public. He began by reminding that the elections will be held for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the National Assembly of the RS entity, the President and Vice Presidents of RS, and for ten cantonal assemblies in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
What Is Prohibited for Politicians?
Kalaba pointed out that the CEC BiH today adopted instructions on deadlines and the sequence of activities. He reminded that every adult citizen of BiH, upon the issuance of an ID card, is recorded in the Central Voter Register (which closed on May 6 at midnight). Citizens abroad who wish to register to vote can do so until July 21, 2026, via the official CEC website and the “e-izbori” portal, where a user manual is provided. “This is available as of today.”
He added that political parties and independent candidates can submit applications for certification electronically from May 8 to May 22, while the submission of candidate lists begins on June 24 and lasts until July 6. “Once the checks and certifications are completed, the CEC will publish all candidate lists in the official gazette and daily press by August 20.” The campaign begins on September 4, and until then, political advertising and premature campaigning are strictly prohibited. Kalaba underlined that the CEC can sanction political subjects for violating these rules, as well as for spreading disinformation: “We are authorized to initiate proceedings and impose sanctions.”
He then stated that they have requested 24.3 million KM for the General Elections, of which 11 million is for polling station committees and 5 million for service contracts. According to the Election Law, competent institutions must ensure the funds within 15 days of calling the elections, i.e., by May 22.
“I also wish to recall the previously approved funds of 112 million for the implementation of a multi-year project to introduce new technologies. The CEC BiH has made a decision on selecting the most favorable bidder, and we held a meeting with them yesterday. A challenging period lies ahead of us, as we have lost time due to lengthy public procurement procedures, but I believe we will have the new technologies ready for the upcoming elections,” Kalaba explained.
New Technologies: This is All You Need to Know
A novelty in these elections will be the voting method, involving the use of scanners for vote tallying. In the coming period, the CEC will conduct a detailed information campaign; meanwhile, CEC member Irena Hadžiabdić today provided more details regarding the new technologies.
Therefore, biometric devices for additional identity verification will be used, specifically, the authentication of every voter by taking fingerprints: “In this way, it is no longer possible to vote for another person, a deceased person, or instead of someone else using a different ID document. Furthermore, thanks to these devices, we will have statistics throughout the day, not only on voter turnout but also on the gender and age structure of the voters.”
The ballot boxes will be connected to scanners. Voters will take four ballots (three in Brčko) and insert them into the ballot box connected to the scanner, followed by an electronic tally of every vote: All this data is then electronically transferred to the CEC.
“Thanks to this, for the first time, we expect the public to have insight into the results at all levels of government just a few hours after the polling stations close,” said Hadžiabdić, emphasizing that the manual counting process has also been retained: “We will record the results of the manual count in a form and transfer them to a specific application; the CEC will then, after announcing the first preliminary results, publish incomplete results successively. Municipal election commissions will move all material to the Main Counting Center, which will have a massive task, completely new scanning and manual counting. If there is a huge difference in votes that cannot be explained, or if it wasn’t a result of an accidental error, a manual recount of all ballots is mandatory, and the manual count from the Main Counting Center, where we have full control, will prevail.”
Another important thing we learned is that an ‘X’ will no longer be marked on the ballot; instead, voters will have to completely fill in or color the circle of the political subject they are voting for. This will ensure there are no doubts about whether the device scanned the vote correctly.
