The Central Election Commission of BiH (CECBiH) received a decision of the Agency for Personal Data Protection in BiH prohibiting the Commission from publishing on its website http://www.izbori.ba the personal data of voters registered in the Excerpt from the Central Voters’ Register for voting outside BiH, and ordered the removal of unspecified data from the website.
The CEC stated that they did not publish the personal data of voters registered in the Excerpt from the Central Voters’ Register (CVR) for voting outside BiH, but published the CVR Excerpt for voting outside BiH in order to ensure the accuracy, timeliness and overall integrity of the Central Voters’ Register.
They point out that in accordance with the Election Law of BiH, the Central Voters’ Register and Excerpts from the Central Voters’ Register are public, and the right to inspect the CVR is exercised in accordance with the Election Law of BiH.
They also note that from 18 July to 17 August 2020, in order to ensure the accuracy of the Central Voters’ Register, the provisional voter lists for voting in Bosnia and Herzegovina were displayed, and the same municipal / city election commissions were in accordance with the Rulebook on Use and Development of Excerpts from the Central Voters’ Register were published on the website and bulletin boards of the municipality/city, and in other convenient ways. Even then, the provisional voter lists published did not contain any less information about the voter.
Furthermore, they emphasize that the primary tool for achieving the accuracy of the Central Voters’ Register is enabling the public to gain insight into the Central Voters’ Register and excerpts from the CVR, which is prescribed by the BiH Election Law: “Publication of data from the Central Voters’ Register and making the content available to the public is done taking into account the principles of personal data protection and in accordance with the Law on Personal Data Protection.”
They claim that, although the Central Election Commission of BiH is prevented from exercising the competencies determined by law, which is to ensure the accuracy, timeliness and overall integrity of the Central Voters’ Register, the CEC is obliged to act in accordance with the said decision and the Excerpt from the Central Voters’ Register for voting outside BiH has been removed from the official website.
“We inform the public that in order to protect our statutory competencies, ensure the accuracy, timeliness and overall integrity of CVR, and in order to prevent all abuses in the election process, we will request judicial protection on this issue,” the CEC said.
