Today, the Central Election Commission of BiH reiterated its request to the authorities to provide the funds needed to hold this year’s general elections by midnight, stating that the actions and deadlines provided by the BiH Election Law have already been jeopardized.
Due to the fact that the decision on providing funds for the elections, which are to be held on October 2, has not been made yet, the CEC is not able to hire additional staff, so today it was decided to introduce overtime work for employees in Commission.
Overtime work would last from May 21st to 29th, by which time it is necessary to verify the signatures of support for political entities applying for the elections.
CEC President Suad Arnautovic pointed out that they made this decision reluctantly and that it was a consequence of the lack of a budget.
“In all previous election cycles, we have hired young people from the bureau, through advertisements, to do occasional and temporary jobs under contract, which occur during the election years,” Arnautovic said at the CEC session in Sarajevo.
According to him, this is one of the first activities of the CEC prescribed by the Election Law, which envisages verification of signatures – whether there are names of deceased people, those who are not in the Central Voters’ List, double or triple signatures, and what the next election process activities depend on.
Recalling that the legal deadline for providing funds for the elections expires today, Arnautovic said that the money was needed yesterday in order to conclude contracts with people for engaging in this job.
“The key question is whether the law is the same for everyone in BiH and whether someone can act illegally, although there is an explicit provision in the law that funds must be provided within 15 days of calling the elections,” Arnautovic said.
Recalling that 12.5 million BAM from the BiH budget are needed for the October elections, Arnautovic added that this amount is 800,000 BAM higher than originally requested because in the meantime the prices of goods and services have drastically increased.
