19/09/2014 Election observation
A pre-electoral delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) visited Sarajevo and Banja Luka to assess the election campaign and the preparation of the general elections to be held on 12 October 2014.
The importance of the upcoming general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina was pointed out by most interlocutors of the PACE delegation. The delegation was informed of the serious challenges facing the country – economic decline, high level of unemployment, wide spread corruption and consequences of catastrophic floods. These challenges will play an important role in the campaign, the delegation was told.
The delegation notes with satisfaction that all political stakeholders expressed genuine confidence in the Central Election Commission’s work. Nevertheless, the delegation was informed by the CEC that there is a certain political pressure – mostly indirect – to its functioning, i.e by limiting its budget. According to the CEC, the weakest link is the functioning of the Municipal and Polling Stations commissions.
The delegation was also informed by some interlocutors about a risk of possible irregularities on election day such as multiple voting, vote buying, pressure on electors, especially in rural areas, potential manipulations, particularly during and after the vote count. Others see less danger for irregularities. Nevertheless, the delegation calls on the Central Election Commission, main political stakeholders and relevant state bodies to assure the neutral work of all polling stations commissions and to take appropriate measures to avoid any manipulations.
The delegation regrets that, despite a legal obligation, there are still significant deviations in constituency size, which makes the vote weight unequal. This is not in line with the fundamental principles on equal suffrage of the Council of Europe Venice Commission’s Code of good practice in electoral matters.
The delegation noted that the media environment is diverse. Nevertheless, the delegation was also informed that many media outlets still remain segmented along ethnic and political lines. Public broadcasters have the obligation to ensure equal access for all political parties and not to privilege the ruling parties. However, the delegation also heard allegations, primarily but not only in Republika Srpska, of possible misuse of administrative resources and unequal access to public media.
Concerning the financing of election campaigns and political parties, the PACE delegation pointed out that some recommendations adopted by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against corruption (GRECO) in 2013 still remain unaddressed, namely the transparency of donations, the auditing competencies of the relevant State institutions and the lack of effective sanctions. The new law on conflict of interests, which was adopted in 2013, was also flagged as a possible source of problems after the elections.
The PACE delegation expressed its great concern that, despite the Assembly’s previous resolutions on incompatibility of the constitution and election legislation with the European Convention on Human Rights, the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to amend the constitutional and legal framework to remove ethnicity and residency based discriminations with regard to the right to stand for elections to the Presidency and House of Peoples. As a result, the 12 October general election once again will be held in violation of the Convention. All interlocutors of political parties said that this matter will be solved after the elections – a promise also made 4 years ago.
The delegation had meetings with leaders and representatives of political parties, with representatives of the collegium of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, with the members of the Central Election Commission, representatives of international community, OSCE/ODIHR mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as with representatives of civil society.
The Parliamentary Assembly will send a 32-member delegation to observe the general elections on 12 October 2014.
Members of the delegation:
Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL), head of the delegation
Naira Karapetyan (Armenia, EPP/CD)
René Rouquet (France, SOC)
Margus Hanson (Estonia, ALDE)
Reha Denemeç (Turkey, EDG)