Association of Election Officials in BiH

The theme of my presentation today is the obligations of political parties, coalitions and independent candidates in election process.

I would like to provide a brief overview of the candidacy procedure, which includes the following processes:

Registration of the political parties and independent candidates, coalitions and the lists of independent candidates for participation in the elections.
Receipt and verification of Candidates' Lists.
Receiving and publicising the Financial Disclosure Form.
Organisation of the Lottery, by which the order of each political party, coalition, independent candidate and list of independent candidates on the ballot is determined.
Consolidation of the data needed for design and printing of ballots.

In order for a political party or independent candidate to be registered for participation in the elections, the following documents had to be submitted to the nearest OSCE office:

Application for registration (the forms were available in every OSCE office).
Receipt that the political party was registered with the competent court and in accordance with the law.
Financial report (for political parties and independent candidates) which covers a period of three months before the day of submitting the application).
Political platform that contained opinions regarding four obligatory issues. These issues were: return of refugees and displaced persons, minority rights, economic reconstruction and development, and social activities and education.
Forms with signatures of support from registered voters. The number of requested signatures of support depended on the electoral level. Political parties were requested to submit 100 signatures for municipal level and 3,000 signatures for BiH levels. Each voter could only give his or her signature of support to one party or independent candidate.
Registration fee, which was linked to the highest electoral level for which political party or independent candidates were applying.

Also, the President or Vice-President of political party, or coalition or the independent candidate had to sign the Declaration where they agreed to abide by the Dayton Agreement, Rules and Regulations of the Provisional Election Commission and Electoral Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates. This Declaration was signed in the presence of an authorised person who was a Judge of the High Court, the Chairman of the LEC, the Director of an OSCE Regional Centre, the Director of Political Party Services or the OSCE Election Officer.

After collecting the requested documentation, the OSCE Field Offices and Regional Centres transferred the forms to Political Party Services where it was verified. According to the Rules and Regulations, Political Party Services had to submit the report regarding this issue to the Provisional Election Commission no later than three weeks from the end of the deadline for the registration. The most difficult part of the verification procedure was the verification of the signatures of support. The signatures were checked against the Final Voters' Register from the previous year.

After the verification was over, the Provisional Election Commission decided which political parties and independent candidates were successfully registered for participation in the elections.

This year, the submission of applications for verification of coalitions and list of independent candidates will be done at the same time. After receiving the applications, the verification will be done according to the following criteria:

The Provisional Election Commission decides which coalitions and lists of independent candidates are registered for participation in the election.

All parties and coalitions that are successfully registered should submit the Candidates' Lists, by the established deadline. Candidates' forms are sent directly to the party or coalition Headquarters, and from there distributed to their members by the party or coalition itself. There are two types of candidates' forms:

Also, when submitting Candidate Form, candidates must submit the Financial Disclosure Form, together with the candidacy forms. All Candidates' Lists are transferred to Political Party Services, where the database is formed and the appropriate checks are done:

The parties must be informed about each candidate who is declared as inadequate, and are given 48 hours to submit the evidences that that the candidate is adequate (receipt from the registration form, copy of the resign from certain functions, etc.). Within the same deadline, the party can submit the forms for the replacement of the candidates. After the replacement forms are verified, the final lists of all candidates are submitted to the Provisional Election Commission for acceptance.

When the verification procedure is completed, the lottery is organized by which the order of each political party, coalition, independent candidate and list of independent candidates on the ballot is determined. This event is public and therefore media representatives, as well as the representatives of the election participants, are allowed to be present.

Complete information regarding the names of parties, coalitions, independent candidates and the lists of independent candidates, their position at the ballot, the names and order of all candidates for each electoral unit, determined by the parties, coalitions or lists of independent candidates, is the basis for the ballot design.

If you want to learn more about the registration of political parties, etc. feel free to contact Nada Hadzimehic, OSCE Sarajevo. Phone: 292 207.