Sunday 12th October was Election Day in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 3.27 million registered voters eligible to go to the polls. They will choose members of the tripartite BiH Presidency; members of the state Parliament, members of Entity Parliaments; a President of the Republika Srpska; and members of Cantonal Parliaments in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Office of the EU Special Representative and the Delegation of the European Union mounted observation teams to visit polling stations around the country and report back on the conduct of elections. More than 80 staff participated including personnel from embassies of EU member states to Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are 5760 Central Election Commission accredited observers including 3300 domestic Pod lupom observers and 552 international observers in the field.
The Head of Delegation/EU Special Representative, Ambassador Peter Sorensen, visited polling stations in Petrovici (RS) and Kosevsko Brdo (FBiH) in the morning and met with election officials, voters and observers. Deputy Head of the EU Delegation Dr Renzo Daviddi visited polling stations in Ilidza (FBiH) and Kiseljak (FBiH). Later in the day Ambassador Sorensen visited the headquarters of the coalition ‘Pod lupom’ (Under the magnifying glass) civil society coalition who are leading the domestic observation efforts.
Ambassador Sorensen said:
“It is always useful and interesting to visit the polling stations around the country to get a picture on-the-ground of how the election is unfolding. I am pleased that not only are there international observers but also a large number of domestic observers all around Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their work is much appreciated. I appreciate the work of the ‘Pod lupom’ coalition and their efforts to inform the public about the electoral process, and the Central Election Commission deserve thanks for their hard work on the preparations. Obviously we will see what the full picture is in the week ahead.
“Whoever takes office after these elections has a number of major challenges to tackle: the need for deep economic reform in BiH and the need to solve the issue of internal co-ordination so that the country can speak with one voice to the EU.”
For more information about the Pod lupom coalition, see: www.podlupom.org
For more information about the Central Election Commission of BiH, see: www.izbori.ba
