The House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted under the urgent procedure the Bill on Amendments to the Electoral Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was referred to the parliamentary procedure by the SDA Deputies’ Club. In order for the changes to enter into force, it is necessary for the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament to vote on the text.
26 deputies voted for the adoption of the law, nine were against, while there were no abstentions.
The MPs adopted the conclusion that the adopted amendments to the Election Law should be sent to the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH under an urgent procedure.
The House of Representatives of the PSBiH previously adopted the request of the proposer that this Bill be considered under the urgent legislative procedure.
Due to the lack of an entity majority, a proposed conclusion was sent to the Collegium of the House of Representatives for approval by which the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina undertakes to, when drafting by-laws that will be accompanying documents of this law, strictly take into account the valid lex generalis laws, conventions on human rights and that human, national, sexual, professional or experiential rights are not threatened in any of the by-laws.
The proposers of this law are the deputies of the Democratic Action Party – Šerif Špago, Šemsudin Dedić, Edin Ramić, Safet Kešo, Denijal Tulumović, Amor Mašović, Nermin Mandra and Midhat Čaušević, with a request for consideration under the urgent procedure.
Among other things, this law announces the application of new technologies in the electoral process, electronic identification of voters based on fingerprints, scanning of ballots and counting of votes electronically, in order to prevent irregularities observed in previous election cycles, as stated by the proponents.
They predicted the full implementation of the new provisions in the electoral legislation for the General Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2026, and for the local elections in the next year, a pilot project of implementation in a certain number of municipalities.
In order for the law to enter into force, it must be accepted by a majority vote of both houses of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.
Today’s session was the last chance for the legislator to adopt changes to the electoral law and fulfill the request of High Representative Christian Schmidt, who called on the parliamentarians to adopt the changes by the end of the year or he will impose them.
