The preliminary results of the 2026 General Election show an interesting trend when it comes to invalid ballots.
Compared to the elections four years ago, their share in the races for the Presidency of BiH and the President of Republika Srpska decreased, while it mostly increased in the elections for legislative bodies.
The most pronounced difference was recorded in the elections for the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska. According to current data, 49,959 ballots or 9.17 percent are invalid, while in 2022 there were 37,374, or 5.52 percent.
Growth was also recorded in the elections for the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament. Currently, 69,341 or 8.48 percent are invalid, compared to 80,021 or 7.58 percent four years ago. Although the absolute number is still lower, their share in the total number of processed ballots is higher by 0.90 percentage points.
There is a similar situation in the elections for the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. 118,183 or 8.68 percent are invalid, compared to 145,281 or 8.38 percent in 2022.
In the cantonal assemblies, 62,634 ballots or 7.80 percent are currently invalid, while in the 2022 elections there were 68,481 or 6.59 percent. The opposite trend is visible in the elections for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Currently, 59,783 or 4.39 percent are invalid, which is significantly less than 115,273 or 6.65 percent from 2022. In the elections for the president of the RS, the share was reduced from 5.75 to 4.74 percent.
The structure of invalid ballots in this year’s elections is particularly interesting. According to current data, there are fewer empty ballots, while at the parliamentary levels a significant number of ballots are invalid for other reasons.
For example, 44,918 blank ballots were recorded for the BiH Parliament, but as many as 73,265 were invalid for other reasons. For the FBiH Parliament, that ratio is 28,541 to 40,800, and the biggest difference is in the case of NSRS – 10,086 blank, compared to as many as 39,873 ballots invalid for other reasons, Klix.ba writes.
