This year, we got more realistic election results, thanks to the application of modern technologies, but also a drop in turnout at most polling stations. Have the citizens lost trust in the parties because of the political offer, or is it necessary to face the real number of inhabitants in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Osmić: Actual turnout of 55 to 65 percent
The electoral process in Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing a chronic decline in turnout – the lowest so far. Compared to previous cycles, when the turnout percentage was higher than 50 percent, this year it was only 42 percent. In the equation with one unknown – the exact number of inhabitants in Bosnia and Herzegovina – we obtained a percentage based on the old voter list. Did we get an accurate turnout result?
“In the Federation, not every fifth person came out, in the RS, every seventh person, but that’s according to the old lists. We don’t have a population census, and we absolutely need one. That’s the first thing that needs to be done,” said sociologist Sejo Pašić.
“If we talk about the turnout of the resident population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, our estimates say that this turnout is significantly higher than what we operate with this 42 percent. We are talking about a percentage interval of 55 to 65 percent of citizens,” explains sociologist and demographer Amer Osmić.
Technology prevented abuses
Part of the vote is hidden in the gray zone, but the space for abuse is now reduced thanks to new technologies.
“Only in the last early elections, between 20 and 50 percent of the signatures were falsified. That was not possible now. It is very likely that in these 220,000 fewer voters who went to the polls, there are also some of the abuses that happened earlier,” said Dario Jovanović, project manager of the “Under Scrutiny” Coalition.
Pašić: The parties did not animate the citizens
In addition to all that, the result, experts say, was also influenced by political apathy.
“Political parties have not for a second looked at the needs of generation Z, which is turning the world around today,” Pašić pointed out.
Even Osmić does not think that the political options have managed to offer enough reasons to citizens to go to the polls.
“Political options that competed for certain positions failed to animate citizens to come out and cast their vote,” said Osmić.
Whether the actual turnout is higher than the officially recorded or not, the fact is that a large number of citizens remained outside the electoral process. This is a message that political parties should not ignore – because without the trust, motivation and real interest of citizens, elections lose part of their purpose.
