The BiH Central Election Commission presented before Permanent Council of the OSCE

Vienna, 19.03.2024 - Mrs. Vanja Bjelica-Prutina, a member of the Central Election Commission of BiH has today attended the informal meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, which precedes the presentation of the annual report of the OSCE Mission to BiH, where she presented the work of the Central Election Commission of BiH with a focus on the upcoming local elections in BiH and activities which were carried out thanks to the support of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During her speech, Mrs. Bjelica-Prutina pointed out, among other things, that the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has, with the help of the OSCE, to digitalize numerous processes, including the online submission of assets declaration, registration of by-mail voters, political parties and candidates. Respective applications have already significantly limited the risk of electoral fraud through abuse of voters’ identities and signature fraud in support to candidacy of political parties, completely eliminated the possibilities for human error, decreased costs, and lightened the workload of the CEC Secretariat.

Ultimately, the common goal of the OSCE Mission and the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina was underlined, aimed at building the capacity of election bodies and improving the general awareness of voters about their rights and obligations.

Mrs. Bjelica-Prutina thanked the OSCE Mission for its continuous support so far and expressed the readiness to continue and strengthen future cooperation in order to create establishment of a political environment where every citizen can trust that their vote matters and that elections are conducted with the fairness and transparency.