Local elections held in BiH: National parties dominated but lost larger cities; new technologies used for greater transparency for the first time --[Reported by Umva mag]

Sarajevo (Fena) – In Bosnia and Herzegovina, local elections were held on Sunday, October 6. In municipalities affected by recent floods and landslides, elections were postponed. In this cycle, parties with national prefixes dominated the local elections in BiH, but lost some cities and larger urban areas.

In these local elections, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina elected 143 mayors and municipal heads and 3,200 councilors and deputies in both entities, as well as a new convocation of the Assembly of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Central Election Commission of BiH confirmed participation for 110 political entities, 58 coalitions, 76 independent candidates, and 43 independent candidates from national minorities, as well as nine lists of independent candidates. There were 3,406,088 eligible voters, of which 44,789 citizens were registered to vote outside Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Regarding candidates for municipal heads and mayors, there were 386, and among them, only 29 women.

For the first time in the history of BiH, new election technologies were tested at certain polling places to ensure greater election integrity.

Activities within pilot projects conducted by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC BiH), which relate to voter authentication and result transmission, as well as biometric voter identification, were carried out with the technical support of the Agency for Identification Documents, Records and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina (IDDEEA) and with financial support from the European Union and the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pilot projects included voter authentication, automatic vote counting via optical scanners, biometric identification, and video monitoring of polling places.

The goal of implementing new technologies, among other things, is to prevent voting on behalf of deceased persons found on voter lists, as well as on behalf of those who decide not to go to the polls on that day.

After the High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt used his powers in March of this year and imposed amendments to the BiH Election Law, war criminals can no longer be found on the election lists, as was the case in the past.

Also, after the election process was concluded, the joint observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, and the European Parliament (EP) assessed that the election preparations were conducted professionally, although there was significant strain in terms of implementing new regulations in a short time and with inadequate resources.

– These welcome reforms added important guarantees to the election process, but they are not fully effective yet. All political parties now need to come together and find a common way forward for the future of their country and strive to build trust among citizens which is currently lacking – said Corien Jonker, head of the ODIHR election observation mission, at a press conference.

She reminded that due to major floods in certain parts of the country ahead of the elections, the voting was postponed in five municipalities.

Jonker noted that women remain underrepresented in public and political life, demonstrating that efforts to achieve balanced gender representation in elected and appointed bodies were insufficient. Simultaneously, she emphasized that women still face frequent misogynistic language and threats and had limited roles and visibility in campaigns.

According to international observers, the Central Election Commission of BiH worked efficiently and professionally. 

– We urge the Central Election Commission to continue their good work as before, which developed ahead of these elections as we move towards the general elections in 2026. At the same time, we believe that further improvements to existing electoral procedures are necessary as a revision of the voter list is needed, and the use of ICT should be improved and subsequently extended to the entire country to increase public confidence in the electoral process – said Lucia Annunziata, head of the European Parliament delegation.

The international election observation mission in the local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina had a total of 240 observers, consisting of 202 assigned ODIHR experts, long-term and short-term observers, 25 members and staff from the Congress, and 13 from the European Parliament.

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