Association of Election Officials in BiH

The nomination of polling station committees is one of the more controversial procedures in the electoral process. The polling station committees constitute a critical link in the process, as they must ensure the practical facilitation of voting on polling day.


	Milan Zjajic, OSCE

The procedures to be followed in putting polling arrangements into place are usually detailed and may even be complex. However, Municipal Election Commissions are expected to have the necessary capacity to handle the details. One of the more difficult issues to deal with for many members of the commissions has proven to be the selection of polling station committees. When the AEOBiH secretariat consulted AEOBiH members in April, concerns were expressed along two lines:

Political parties are influencing the selection of members, and their choice are not always based on the merits of the individual;
The capacity (often hard work and long hours) and competence (counting and management) of the individuals are not properly checked.

The rules and regulations states the following: "The Municipal Election Commission shall appoint a Polling Station Committee for each polling station. The appointments shall be made immediately after the polling station locations have been decided, but in any case, no later than 25 days before election day. The Polling Station Committee is responsible for ensuring the integrity, security and tranquillity of the voting process at the Station."

"Political party influence on the selection of polling station committee members
diminishes the ability of election officials to maintain their neutrality,
independence and professionalism."

Charles E. Erdmann, Chief Judge, Election Appeals Sub-Commission (EASC), is stating the following in a recent letter (12 May, 2000) to Ambassador Robert L. Barry, Chairman of PEC: "The Election Appeals Sub-Commission received numerous pre-election complaints concerning the composition of polling station committees, but since there is no rule which addresses the political affiliation of polling station committee members, those complaints were dismissed...(...)...given the problems...(..) the EASC requests that the PEC consider adopting a provision which prohibits one political party from holding all the seats on a polling committee, while at the same time not institutionalising political party representation on the committees".

The suggestion provided by the EASC is that a requirement should be established, and the requirement should state that no more than 50 percent of the members of a Polling Station Committee could be members or supporters of the same party.

The suggestion raises the question of what exactly constitutes a "supporter" of a political party? Is it a viable solution?

There are various ways of ensuring de-politicisation of polling station committees:

Requirement to Serve. A process similar to a jury summons is used to require people to undertake poll worker duties. People could be randomly chosen from a pool of teachers and civil servant, for example.
Application. A professional core of staff can be obtained through advertising and evaluation of candidates on the basis of strict criteria. Advertising and evaluations are a compulsory component of the selection process. In some countries, priority has been given to young people, and with good results.
Controlled politicisation. All political parties would be given a role in the selection of polling station committees. A central authority would determine the key for each party's "weight" in the selection of polling station members.
Differentiate between Chairperson and other staff. The Chairperson would be randomly drawn from a pool of civil servants, or other professional group, and would have to meet an established set of requirements going beyond those applying to the regular members.

The suggestions harvested during our consultations with members were formulated along these lines. It was suggested that a selection process should be integrated in the education of PSC members. For example, more candidates should be chosen for the training program than would be needed, as only the best candidates would then be appointed for polling station duty. It was also recommended that priority be given to young people, and students in particular. Students are capable of working long hours and have an extended social network, which makes communication easy. Motivation is also higher among students than many other groups.

It is a fact that in many municipalities, political parties have applied pressure on MECs relating to the nomination of PSC members. Political party influence on the selection of polling station committee members diminishes the ability of election officials to maintain their neutrality, independence and professionalism. A member of the PSC proposed by a political party would sometimes think that he/she is responsible to his/her party for his/her work and not to the MEC.

Representation of political parties members in the PSCs, in many municipalities, was determined on the basis of their results from the previous elections.

In BiH, we have a very positive experience with the nomination of young people, including high school students with voting rights and university students, public servants and former members of PSCs.

Some of the MECs (e.g. Bihac) nominated PSC members via public advertisement and conducted testing. This resulted in the recruitment of a large number of young people and politically unaffiliated people. This method is very demanding, but by using it, a higher level of professionalism of participants in the electoral process could be achieved.

In the discussion following this presentation it was stated by participants that:

MECs should keep an exclusive right to nominate PSC members.
The existing regulations are appropriate as they allow MECs to take into the consideration the specifics of their local community and to use past positive experiences.
Political party participation and recruitment of PSC members should not be standardized. MECs will determine whether political party participation in the nomination of PSC members in their municipality is necessary.
During the selection of PSC members, priority should be given to:

Young people;
Experienced and expert members of PSCs;
Members of the AEOBIH (who are not current members of the MEC);
PSC members proposed by the local communities;
Holders of AEOBIH certificates, indicating that the person has attained a certain level of qualification through training.

Presidents of the PSCs should earn a higher per diem than the members of PSCs, as there was too small a difference in the Municipal Elections. When selecting the PSC Chairperson, expertise and experience in the electoral process should be taken into consideration.
AEOBIH should conduct the training of potential PSC members in the future and issue certificates.