The International Election Observation Mission will present a preliminary post-election report at a press conference in Sarajevo.
The International Monitoring Mission consists of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the European Parliament (EP) and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA).
The International Election Observation Mission consists of 320 observers from 43 countries, including 250 observers committed by the ODIHR on a long-term and short-term basis, 30 parliamentarians and OSCE PA staff members, 18 from PACE, 9 from EP and 8 from NATO PA.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) opened an observation mission in September here with the aim of monitoring Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) upcoming general elections. Following an invitation from the BiH authorities and under the OSCE’s auspices, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) observed the election process before, during, and after the election day, said head of the mission Ambassador Peter Tejler at a press conference.
“The aim of the mission is to monitor the integrity of the voting process, and give a chance to every citizen to enjoy the universal and equal right to vote, and their votes to be counted and tabulated in the correct way,” Tejler said, adding that only in that way can the government’s legitimacy be achieved.
The mission will assess whether the process is transparent, and conducted in line with OSCE commitments of honesty, partiality, and secrecy and whether the results are announced honestly and in a transparent matter.
“We will remain independent, impartial, we are here to observe the elections according to the established electoral methodology. The mission will pay particular attention to the implementation of the BiH legislation, vote counting and tabulation,” Tejler emphasized.
The mission consists of a core team of 12 election experts, and 22 long-term observers to be deployed across the country.
On election day, an additional 300 short-term observers to monitor the proceedings of elections were called to observe the polling stations.
Tejler further explained that observers would closely monitor the voter registration process, campaign activities, work of relevant governmental bodies, election-related legislation and its implementation, solving of electoral disputes before, during, and after the elections, and media coverage of the campaign.
The mission will observe the elections for their compliance with OSCE commitments, international standards for democratic elections, and national legislation.
