BiH Central Election Commission adopted the Initiative for the adoption of the Law on Changes and Amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Central Election Commission of BiH has at its 64th session held on September 15, 2021 adopted a Conclusion on the adoption of the Initiative for the adoption of the Law on Changes Amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The adopted Initiative is the result of several months of work of the Central Election Commission of BiH.
We would like to remind the public that the Central Election Commission of BiH, had at its 50th session held on June 8, 2021 adopted the draft Initiative for the Adoption of the Law on Changes and Amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was sent to the Venice Commission and GRECO through the Council of Europe and the OSCE/ODIHR with a request for an opinion. At the same time, the BiH CEC invited the election management bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the academic community, experts in the field of electoral law, representatives of the non-governmental sector and other individuals and organizations to submit their suggestions, remarks and proposals.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) had August 16, 2021 submitted to the Central Election Commission of BiH “Informal Comments on the Draft Proposal for Amending the Election Law” which include proposals for amendments to the Election Law of BiH made by the Central Election Commission of BiH.
According to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), the proposed amendments to the Election Law prepared by the BiH Central Election Commission are broad and exhibit important progress in reviewing some of the recommendations formulated by previous ODIHR EOMs. Proposed changes address, inter alia, issues related to constituency delimitation, the method of formation of Polling Station Committees (PSC), the abuse of public resources for campaign purposes, the training of the election officials, electoral participation of women, and the timely publication of CEC and courts’ decisions on election-related complaints. If adopted, the amendments would reinforce the integrity of the electoral process. Numerous other amendments address technical issues, clarifying previous ambiguities, and harmonizing certain provisions with the Constitution of BiH and other laws. Other proposals refer to the postponement of elections in case of extraordinary circumstances, voter registration, candidate nomination, media regulations, early voting arrangements, and electoral offences.
The Council of Europe submitted a response to the Central Election Commission of BiH that the Venice Commission and GRECO cannot give their opinion at this stage of the preparation of the Law.
Following submission of opinions, proposals, suggestions and remarks, the Central Election Commission of BiH had, based on all the above, made the final version and adopted the final text of the Initiative for the adoption of the Law on Changes and Amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In accordance with the competencies referred to in Article 2.9, paragraph (1), item 16) of the BiH Election Law, the BiH Central Election Commission will send the Initiative to the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and inform the members of the BiH Presidency, Peace Implementation Council, the EU Delegation / Office of the EU Special Representative to BiH and the OSCE Mission to BiH, and after being delivered to the aforementioned institutions, it will be published on the website of the Central Election Commission of BiH, www.izbori.ba.