More than 31,000 citizens met the conditions, while experts warn of a decline in the diaspora’s interest in the elections.
The deadline for registration of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who live or temporarily reside abroad and wish to vote in the General Elections scheduled for October 4 expires tonight at midnight, while data from the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIKBH) show that by July 20, 31,303 voters met the conditions for voting abroad.
As of July 20, a total of 49,974 people opened user accounts on the e-Elections portal.
In addition to 31,303 applications that meet the requirements, another 7,511 completed applications are being processed, while 7,483 applications are still in the input phase. For 3,677 applications, the fulfillment of the conditions was not determined due to deficiencies in the submitted documentation, it was confirmed to Fena from the CEC of BiH.
The largest number of accepted voter applications came from Germany (10,353), Croatia (5,924), Austria (4,381), Serbia (2,169), Sweden (2,005) and Switzerland (1,718).
The CEC stated that the largest number of rejected applications related to incorrect proof of residence abroad, non-compliance of signatures and incomplete documentation.
The CEC assesses that the introduction of the digital registration process represented a significant step forward in facilitating the exercise of the right to vote for citizens outside BiH.
However, representatives of the BiH diaspora believe that, despite the possibility of electronic registration, the entire process is still complex, especially due to the obligation to re-register for each election cycle and vote by mail.
The vice-president of the World Diaspora Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Safet Alispahić, told Fena that the response of citizens abroad is very weak compared to their total number, and that more and more people are giving up participating in the elections, because the way citizens from the diaspora vote is complicated and expensive.
He reminded that the World Alliance of the BiH Diaspora sent an initiative to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH for the introduction of electronic voting, but that it was not put into the procedure.
The President of the Strategic Committee of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Under Scrutiny” and former President of the CEC of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vehid Šehić, also believes that the number of registered voters will not correspond to the number of people who will vote in the end, stressing that past experience shows that about 60 percent of registered voters from outside the country exercise their right to vote due to a loss of trust in political actors.
The application for voting outside Bosnia and Herzegovina must be submitted by all BiH citizens who live or temporarily stay abroad.
After the deadline, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue processing all received requests and verifying the fulfillment of legal requirements, after which the final number of voters registered to vote outside Bosnia and Herzegovina will be announced.
