The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC BiH) has announced local elections, applying amendments to the Election Law imposed by the High Representative, which, among other things, entail a ban on the candidacy of those convicted of war crimes before domestic and all other courts.
At a press conference, the president of CEC BiH, Irena Hadziabdic, confirmed that the local elections will be held on October 6th and that the new provisions of the Election Law imposed by the High Representative in BiH in March, Christian Schmidt, will be applied.
One amendment states that “no person convicted by any international or domestic court for genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes may run for election or hold any elected, appointed, or other position.” This change has been praised by survivors of war crimes and families who have been pointing out for years the problem of convicted war criminals holding public office.
Hadziabdic explained that CEC BiH has taken steps to obtain data on individuals convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, but their challenge is that this data is not grouped in one place.
The CEC has finalized the central voter register, according to which a total of 3.406.088 voters living in BiH and abroad will have the right to vote in the local elections on October 6th.
During the local elections, four pilot projects of electoral technologies will be implemented, involving electronic voter registration and scanning of ballots at approximately 160 polling stations. Hadziabdic explained that voting will be carried out identically to previous years and that the pilot projects will only serve to test how much this type of technology will improve the electoral process.
One of the novelties is that the verification of participation in the local elections for parties and independent candidates will be submitted exclusively electronically, and as of yesterday, paid political advertising is prohibited.
“A new feature is that from today until the official start of the campaign, apart from the ban on paid advertising, there will be no kind of premature campaigning,” said Hadziabdic yesterday, Detektor writes.
E.Dz.
