The 2020 Local Elections called for October 4
The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has today at 21st session passed the Decision on announcing and administering 2020 Local Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Elections are scheduled for Sunday, October 4.
Elections are called for:
- 64 Municipal Councils in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- 56 Municipal Assemblies in the Republika Srpska,
- 120 mayors of municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- 14 City Councils in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ,
- 7 City Assemblies in Republika Srpska,
- 22 City mayors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
- Assembly of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Guaranteed seats for the members of national minorities are foreseen in 21 municipalities for 23 candidates.
The City Mayor of the City of Istočno Sarajevo is elected directly at the Local Elections in BiH for the first time put in line with the changes to the Election Law of Republika Srpska.
The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina informs the public that the election of councilors to the Council of the City of Mostar will be announced once conditions necessary for announcing and administering the elections are met.
We inform the public that the BiH Central Election Commission has today passed the Decision on conclusion of the Central Voters’ Register as on May 6 at 24:00 hours, according to which a total of 3. 374.364 voters are registered in the Central Voters’ Register, which includes the voters from the City of Mostar.
The registration of voters voting outside BiH for these elections will be done based on PRP1 and PRP2 forms, as it was the case for the previous elections. The novelty is the fact that the PRP2 form is now available only in electronic form on the official website of the BiH Central Election Commission. The reason for the introduction of this novelty is the fact that due to the lack of funds the procurement of services of printing of the PRP2 form could not be initiated on time, as it is the case with the procurement of services of postal delivery of the PRP2 to the voters outside BiH. Apart from the financial reasons, the electronic PRP form was also created due to delayed postal services caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.
We invite all the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who vote outside BiH, to immediately visit the official website of the BiH CEC and electronically register to vote outside BiH on time.
Preparatory activities for the 2020 Local Elections, whose realization was conditioned by funds, could not be carried out. It resulted in the fact that today the BiH CEC did not adopt the Instruction on deadlines and sequence of electoral activities, which is usually passed on the day elections are called.
It means that all electoral activities (except for the OCV registration), which inter alia entail collection of the form for registration of political subjects, submission of applications for certification of political parties and independent candidates, including collection of the signatures of support, submission of applications for certification of coalitions or lists of independent candidates and all other activities will be carried out in the period set by the BiH Central Election Commission in the Instruction on deadlines and sequence of electoral activities. The BiH CEC will adopt this Instruction after the necessary funds for the conduct of elections are secured, respecting the decisions of the competent bodies in BiH concerning prevention of the spread of Covid-19 epidemic. We will provide adequate and timely information on the latter to the public.
The BiH Central Election Commission was not able to initiate the most important public procurement procedures on time due to fact that the budget of the BiH Institutions was not adopted.
Importance of free elections in a democratic system is neither nor will it ever be brought into the question by the BiH CEC. But, conduct of free elections does not only entail calling of the elections and determining the date of the elections. Furthermore, the conduct of elections is not only the BiH CEC’s task; it is the tasks of all competent institutions and bodies of authority in BiH under the scope of their competence.
Around 4.2 million KM need to be secured for the activities conducted by the BiH CEC. The remaining funds needed for the conduct of elections are secured by the cities/municipalities in their budgets, whereof the largest portion, around 4 million KM, goes towards remuneration to the members of the polling station committees. Municipalities Kostajnica and Bileća still have not secured the funds. We believe that these municipalities will adopt the 2020 budget soon. These local elections should cost approximately 9 million KM.
We hereby inform all participants in the electoral process in BiH that a special site on the Internet portal of the BiH CEC will be active as of today. It can be fund under link 2020 Local Elections, and will contain all available information on the 2020 Local Elections, but also all the implementing regulations, by-laws and forms.
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