Fourth Annual Conference in Neum

Page 3

The post-war elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1996 to 2000, were organized and implemented by the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), in accordance with the Annex 3 (Agreement on Elections) to the Dayton Peace Accord, and by the Rules and Procedures of the Provisional Election Commission, under supervision by international observers.

In spite of frequently repeated demands of the Peace Implementation Council to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to draft and adopt their own Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article IV 2. of the Annex 4), and to appoint a standing Election Commission that would be responsible for implementation of future elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and work closely with OSCE during its mandate, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina as late as in August 2001. The purpose of adoption of this Law was promotion of free, fair and democratic elections, which would ensure implementation of democratic goals in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In line with the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 19.1), the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina was appointed comprising four members from Bosnia and Herzegovina, representing each of constituent peoples, including the Others (Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs and the Others) and three members from international community (two OSCE representative, and one representative of the OHR) . The main task of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is to organize and promote free, fair and democratic elections and ensure progressive achievement of democratic goals throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and consistent adherence to and implementation of the Election Law.

By adoption of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina and appointment of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the necessary prerequisites for implementation of the elections at every government level in Bosnia and Herzegovina were in place (state, entity, canton, municipality, city levels, and the Brcko District) by national bodies and on the basis of national regulations.

The Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina specifies the election of members and delegates to the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the principles for elections at all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which need to be adhered to when making and adopting the entity Election Laws (Election Law of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Election Law of the Republika Srpska).

In addition to this general commitment, the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina has closely regulated the whole election process for all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina – the state, entity, cantonal, municipal, city levels, and the Brcko District (election implementation bodies, election rights, right to run in the election, voters registration, verification of political parties and independent candidates, running in the elections, protection of the election rights, election of the government bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and election implementation)--leaving very little room for regulation of elections by the entity laws. Because of this, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted, instead of the Election Law, the Law on Establishing the Bodies for Implementation of Elections in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regulating only the method of establishing, the composition, mandate and way of work of the bodies for election implementation in the Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federation Election Commissions, the Cantonal Election Commissions, Municipal Election Commissions and City of Mostar Election Commission), while all other issues related to the election process are subject to the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Republika Srpska adopted the Election Law of the Republika Srpska that, in addition to the provisions on the election agencies in the Republika Srpska, also contains the provisions on rules of conduct for political parties and coalitions, lists of independent candidates, and independent candidates as well as on verification and running in the elections, which were literally taken over from the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This law is different from the Federation Law in that too that it contains the provisions on direct election of the Head of Municipality and his recall as well as the provisions on election to the Local Community Councils.

1. Responsibilities of the Election Administration

The Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina specifies that the bodies responsible for election implementation are the Election Commissions and polling station committees, and that all those agencies are independent and impartial in their work, and they are comprised of individuals who have the right to vote and appropriate skills and experience in election implementation.

According to the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 2.9 and Chapter 6), the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

1. Coordinates, supervises and regulates legality of work of all election commissions and polling station committees, in accordance with this Law;

2. Adopts administrative regulations for implementation of this Law;

3. Proposes budget of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Secretariat, and submits report on budget execution;

4. Is responsible for the creation, accuracy and maintenance of the Central Voters List for the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

5. Verifies the political parties, coalitions, lists of independent candidates and independent candidates for participation at all levels of elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

6. Confirms and verifies lists of candidates for elections at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

7. Is responsible for timely print, dissemination and security of the ballots and forms for elections at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

8. Determines the content and form of the ballots for all levels of elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

9. Confirms, verifies and publishes the results of elections at all levels of elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

10. Issues certificates to persons who win mandates;

11. Informs the Commission or the Polling Station Committee when they are not acting in accordance with the provisions of this law, or that they are breaching them, and orders the responsible agency to take the appropriate measures;

12. Publishes the Rules of Procedure, Regulations and Election Results, voter information, and all other information necessary for implementation of this Law and all Election Laws in the Official Gazettes and means of public information in Bosnia and Herzegovina and outside;

13. Performs all election activities for election of the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

14. Checks the decisions of the responsible agency on termination of the mandate of an elected official in accordance with the law, in order to make sure that the mandate of the elected official has been terminated in accordance with the law, and also in the case that the elected official in question has submitted the resignation of his own will.

15. Submits the annual report to the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the status of implementation of elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, implementation of the Election Law, and proposes new changes.

For the purpose of protection of the electoral rights, the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina is also responsible for decisions on complaints of certain breaches of the Election Law and on appeals against decisions of all other election commissions, except in case of violations of the rules of conduct of the political parties, coalitions, lists of independent candidates that have happened at the polling station for which the municipal election commission is responsible in the first instance, and in the second instance, the Election Council for Complaints and Appeals.

The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken direct responsibility for earlier elections that had been held in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of the Provisional Election Commission, as well for the election mandates awarded in accordance with those regulations.

All those responsibilities were fully respected in organization and implementation of the General Elections 2000. The election process was organized and implemented in accordance with a precisely defined program of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All election activities were completed within the given time limits, starting from voter registration to the preliminary results announced on October 19, to the final announcement of election results and handing over the certificates to the elected officials at all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which took place on November 14, 2002, after all the complaints submitted to the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been resolved and appropriate decision made by the Appellant Department of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The fifteen complaints by political parties and coalitions against counting ballots on some polling stations and the eight complaints by political parties and coalitions against the compensatory mandates awards were all dismissed as unfounded.

Within the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Election Council for Complaints and Appeals, a body the purpose of which is to protect the electoral rights provided by the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This body has five members: one Bosniak, one Croat, one Serb, one member declared as Others, and one member from the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Election Council for Complaints and Appeals has the first and second instance responsibility, as defined and delineated by the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Chapters 7 and 15). Acting in accordance with its responsibilities, after the General Elections 2002, the Election Council for Complaints and Appeals has received and considered a total of 246 complaints and appeals, thirty-one of which were merged and resolved as one package while forty-eight complaints were sent to the municipal election commissions on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction, together with precise instructions how to act on them. Twenty-one complaints were not within the jurisdiction of the Election Council for Complaints and Appeals. One hundred and thirty-six decisions were made. Twenty-two were resolved with fines totaling 91,000 convertible marks. In two cases, in addition to the fine, the candidate was removed from the list: one candidate at the cantonal level and one at the Federation level. Seventy-five complaints were dismissed as unfounded due to lack of evidence while thirty-three were illegal because the claimants did not have the capacity of a political subject in the election process or no interest of theirs was violated as established by the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Four complaints were dismissed on the grounds of being late, since they were not submitted within the time of three days from the violation, as provided in the Law.

The complaints and appeals submitted were mostly related to removal, cover-up or damage of the election posters, use of a language that could lead or incite violence and hate, and violation of the rule of pre-election silence (Article 7.2, Article 7.3 point 1, and Article 7.4 of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina).

In addition to those classic responsibilities in the election process, the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is also responsible for resolving the conflict of interest in the government institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and controlling and taking measures in financing political parties. The Law on Conflict of Interest in the Government institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which entered force on November 15, 2002, specifies the special obligations of the elected officials, executive officials and advisors in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina while performing their duties. When performing their duties, such persons must behave conscientiously and responsibly, not jeopardizing the trust and confidence of the citizens, and must respect both legal and other regulations defining the rights, obligations and responsibilities in performing the public functions. They must adhere to the ethics of their calling, and the function they perform. They must not put their private interest before the public interest.

The conflict of interest exists in the situations when the elected officials, executive officials and advisors have some private interest that affects or may affect the legality, transparency, and impartiality in performing the public function. They are individually responsible for their actions in performing the public functions to which they were elected or appointed and are politically responsible with respect to the citizens or the body that had elected or appointed them.

One of the responsibilities of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is implementation of this Law, in other words, resolution of the conflict of interest in the government institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For this purpose, this Commission performs the following jobs and tasks:

1. Acts on the basis of the Law on Conflict of Interest in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to ensure political accountability and reliability of the elected officials, executive officials and advisors, taking care to protect the integrity of the office, not the official occupying it;

2. Adopts the instructions, signs forms and organizes a registry for the purpose of implementing the provisions of this law;

3. Adopts the Rules of Procedure on maintaining the registry, forms and rules on conducting the procedure and delivering decisions, and writing reports;

4. Makes decision on whether an action or an omission constitutes violation of the provisions of this law;

5. Reports on its work to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina every six months, and at least once a year to the general public;

6. Submits reports to the responsible prosecution office on each case of violation of this Law that might also be the violation of the Criminal Code.

The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has the right to determine the fact by conducting its own investigation, or obtain the facts and evidence through operation of other agencies of executive power. All government agencies, institutions and courts at every level in Bosnia and Herzegovina have the duty to provide the assistance requested to the Election Commission, as well as all other forms of assistance.

If an elected official, an executive official or an advisor are found in violation of the provisions of the Law on Conflict of Interest in the government institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Articles 5, 6 and 8), according to which they may not be members of the Board of Directors, Management Board, Supervisory Board, Executive Board, or have the capacity of an authorized person in a public company nor in a private company in which the government agency had invested capital during four years before taking up the elected office, executive office or advisory position, and can not make contracts on provision of personal services in any public or private company under the stated conditions, such persons are considered unsuitable for running for any directly or indirectly elected function for four years after determining the violation. In addition, they may be fined between one thousand and ten thousands convertible marks. For violating the provisions of this Law on prohibited activities and receiving gifts (articles 9 and 10), a person may be fined from one thousand to ten thousands convertible marks, with the obligation to return the gift. For violation of other provisions (under articles 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) of this Law, the public official will be considered unsuitable for position in the government administration or for the position of an advisor for four years after the violation was made.

Having in mind the complexity of the procedure and very harsh sanctions for the persons to be found in violation of this Law, the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has considered the modalities and methods of implementation of this law in due time, and adopted the Personal Information Form, which will be distributed during December 2002 to all public officials to fill out and deliver to the Election Commission within 30 days from the day of receipt. This form will be used by the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a basis for collecting information on public officials, and forming a database to be used for taking the actions and measures prescribed by law.

The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is responsible for monitoring and taking measures with respect to political party financing, on the basis of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Chapter 15), and the decision by the High Representative (No. 139, of March 28, No. 140, of April 18, and No. 151 of April 19, 2002), and provisions of the Law on Political Organizations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Law on Political Organizations of the Republika Srpska, Law on Financing Political Parties from the Budget of the Republika, Municipalities and Cities of the Republika Srpska. On the basis of the provisions of the said laws, the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina checks all financial reports submitted after verification of the election results. They also check the available cash, all revenues and expenditures, identity of the person or source of monetary or in-kind contributions exceeding one hundred convertible marks, and the total liabilities. On those grounds, the control of financial reports is made so that no political party, coalition, list of independent candidates or an independent candidate can spend more than one convertible mark per voter in each election round during the elections, respecting the number of voters determined by the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 15.10 of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina also checks the signed property statements that must be submitted by all candidates for elected office at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina or an entity within 15 days from accepting the candidacy. This statement should contain the current revenues and sources of revenues, all property, expenditures and other liabilities of the candidates and members of their families – children and other dependent household members (article 15.7, 15.8 and 15.9 of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina).

From the domain of the Law on Financing Political Parties, the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is responsible for conducting the examination and control of financial reports (final and periodical accounts of income and revenues) submitted by political parties. The examination is made in accordance with a special plan, comprehensively. When it is found that a detail financial examination is required to determine whether the reports were properly made, the job is done in the field with the political parties. When all the conditions are met, the final report is submitted and a certificate is issued proving that the financial operations were made in accordance with the Law on Financing Political Parties. If the findings were negative, the measures and sanctions prescribed by law are taken.

Support and administrative jobs for the needs of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina are performed by its Secretariat, which is organized and systematized in the way that ensures the conditions for legal, transparent, accountable, efficient, economic and professional performance of the tasks and duties of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Secretariat of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina performs its tasks and duties through organizational units: office of the Secretary General, Software Development and Informative Analytical Data Processing Department, Voter Registration Department, and the Election Departments, employing the total of fifty-four officials, twenty-two of whom were taken over and financed in 2002 by the OSCE.

In light of the new responsibilities of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina including resolution of the conflict of interest as well as monitoring and taking measures in financing political parties, the process of developing and adopting the new organizational scheme of the Secretariat of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina adjusted to the new needs is currently ongoing. The idea is to organize the Secretariat so that it has the Secretary General, the Department for Election Operations, Implementation Service—which would perform all jobs and tasks related to conflict of interest, Technical Information and Development Service, Material Financial Operations Department, Audit Department—which would carry out the jobs and tasks of monitoring and taking measures in financing political parties, Legal Service and Service for Common and Operational jobs—which would employ a total of sixty-four officials and appointees.

The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina precisely stipulates the responsibilities of the Municipal Election Commissions, according to which, this Commission:

1. Makes sure that all the lists of candidates for the Municipal Council or Municipal Parliament are comprised in accordance with the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina and delivers them to the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for approval;

2. Supervises the work of municipal agencies in the process of election implementation, particularly in terms of voter registration;

3. Determines the polling stations within the municipality for voting at all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina;

4. Appoints and trains members of the polling station committees;

5. Ensures security and delivery of the election materials to the polling stations to be used in elections at all levels of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

6. Notifies the voters on all information required for election implementation in accordance with the rules of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

7. Is responsible for arrangements at the polling station and other technical preparations for elections;

8. Is responsible for regular counting of ballots at the polling stations in municipal counting centers;

9. Unifies the results of elections from all polling stations in the municipality, separately for each body for which the elections were conducted and sends them
to the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

10. Carries out other jobs, in accordance with Law and regulations of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Municipal Election Commission in each municipality has the first instance responsibility to make decision on complaints on all issues that have not been explicitly awarded to the Election Council for Complaints and Appeals or the Appellant Department of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 6.6).

The Municipal Election Commissions have in most part been successful in performing their tasks during the election period 2002. However, most municipal election commissions should have been more engaged in supervising the municipal agencies involved in election implementation, particularly during the voter registration and taking the appropriate activities to successfully complete the process. In particular, municipal election commissions should have had the information from the municipal registry office on persons who have come of age and thus acquired voting rights, on the deceased and on the voters who have changed the address. This is something that requires permanent work, since the voter registration is an open and continuous process, and it cannot wait for the elections. A number of Municipal Election Commissions should have paid more attention to accurate counting of the ballots in the polling station and in municipal counting centers and to merging the results from all polling stations in order to avoid the errors that were made, raising the tensions among some political parties and encouraging them to file complaints against the vote counting.

The Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 2.21) stipulates that the Entity Election Commissions (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska) should be formed in accordance with the Entity Law, providing that their scope of responsibility is to be defined by the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Entity Laws establish the Election Commission of the entities, and the Decision of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina defines the responsibilities of those commissions. According to this decision, the Entity Election Commission performs the following tasks:

1. Takes care of proper implementation of the Entity Election Law and the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

2. Makes sure that all the applications for verification of the participation in elections for President and Vice President of the Republika Srpska and the Representatives to the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska in this Entity, and election to the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina and cantonal parliaments in the Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina are made in accordance with the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and passes them on to the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for verification;

3. Proposes budget for implementation of elections for the levels that are under the responsibility of the entity, in accordance with Article 1.2 of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

4. Issues accreditations to the verified political parties, coalitions, lists of independent candidates or independent candidates, as well to the observers in the constituency where that particular political party, coalition, list of independent candidates or independent candidates are running;

5. Issues accreditations to observers overseeing the work of the Entity Election Commissions;

6. Determines the amount of fee for the members of the Election Commissions and members of the Polling Station Committees;

7. Carries out other duties, as requested by the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the Republika Srpska, the members of the Entity Election Commission were appointed too late to be involved in performance of their responsibilities during the elections in 2002. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the candidates for members of the Entity Election Commission were proposed to the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina but have not yet been appointed. Considering the situation, the jobs normally under the responsibility of the Entity Election Commissions were done by the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 2002 election process.

Starting from the responsibilities of the Entity Election Commissions that are quite limited, and the fact that the some responsibilities will be performed only at the time of elections, the question remains how the performance of support and administrative jobs for those commissions will be organized: whether in the form of a special service- Secretariat to the Entity Election Commission, or some of the existing agencies in the Administration of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or Republika Srpska. In any case, this issue needs to be considered, and appropriate best solutions made.

In the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 2.21, paragraph 2), it is stipulated that the method of electing the members of all other election commissions (cantonal, etc.) is to be determined by the entity law, in line with the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Law on Establishing the Bodies for Election Implementation in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Articles 2 and 8) describes the cantonal election commissions, which have not yet been elected nor have their responsibilities been defined. The question comes up whether those commissions need to be formed, considering the responsibilities of the Entity and Municipal Election Commissions.

The responsibilities of the polling station committees are also defined by the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The polling station committee is directly responsible for the polling station; it ensures regularity and confidentiality of voting, and registers the voting results at the polling station. The President of the polling station committee manages the work of the polling station, is responsible for the legality of its work, and makes sure that the voting process at the polling station goes on smoothly in accordance with the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Chapters 5 and 7).

In spite of clear provisions of law, involvement of representatives of all political parties in the polling station committees, and training and preparation provided beforehand to the members of the polling station committees for the elections, in a quite a number of polling stations some omissions were registered, particularly in the Herzegovina-Neretva canton, West Herzegovina Canton, and Herzeg-Bosnia Canton, where the total number of signatures differed from the number of signatures from the abstract from the Central Voters’ Roll and the number of the ballots in the ballot box, the sum of valid votes of parties was not accurate, there were many invalid ballots, and many other irregularities that have made political parties submit complaints to the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, requesting a re-count, in some areas in all municipalities and for all levels of government. The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina examined all complaints and found that there were some irregularities, but that those irregularities were not of the kind to affect the results of the elections, so it dismissed the complaints as unjustified, as described above. However, the process of complaining and resolving the complaints delayed the final determination of the election results and awarding the certificates to the elected officials. Such omissions cannot be tolerated. The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is now reviewing those and other omissions, and it will not allow those who were responsible for them to be re-elected to polling station committees, and it will demand from the Municipal Councils or Municipal Councils for some members of the Municipal Election Commissions to be dismissed.

Generally speaking, the work of the polling station committees proves the need to changes something there. The political parties were represented in the composition of the polling station committees, but also as the observers of their work. Whether we wanted it or not, the members of the polling station committees do represent their parties. They are biased while they should be neutral, apolitical and free from influence of political parties. This is also the case with the composition of the Municipal Election Commissions, which were elected by the Municipal Councils or Municipal Assemblies. Since the ruling parties will always have the decisive role in composition of the Municipal Election Commissions, new solutions should be sought for election of the polling station committees, particularly presidents of these bodies. Those persons should be elected from among the persons not too much exposed to the influence of political parties. One good solution would be to have the presidents of the polling station committees be the persons who had acquired a certificate from an independent agency (Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina or some non-governmental organization) verifying that they are trained for the job or to elect them from among the government officials and appointees who are assumed to be efficient and independent. Therefore, the composition and work of the polling station committees requires certain additional analysis and possibly changes of the bylaws regulating this matter.

2. Election Financing

The Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article 1.2), stipulates that the funds needed for election implementation would be provided from the budgets of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Brcko District, cantons, cities, and municipalities, depending on what level of elections is to be implemented.

Starting from those legal provisions, the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has proposed, and the Parliamentary Assembly adopted the budget of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for financing the 2002 General Elections in the amount of 11,405,767 KM, which comprises two main parts:

1. Funds for operative and capital expenditures of the Secretariat of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the total amount of 1,215,322 KM, and

2. Funds for special purpose program, the “2002 Elections,” in the amount of 10,190,445 KM.

The funds were provided from three different sources of financing:

1. State budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the total amount of 1,215,322 convertible marks, which were used for financing the operating expenditures – salaries and material expenditures of the Secretariat to the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and capital expenditures – procurement of equipment.

2. Entity budgets – the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the amount of 1,647,400 convertible marks, used for financing the voter registration, the main voter counting center, political party service, software development, technical development, logistics and warehousing, material for the polling stations, and the customs duty for import of the ballots, and

3. Funds from international donations, amounting to 7,543,043 convertible marks, used for financing of the voting by mail, voter information, production and distribution of ballots, and payments to the polling station committees.

The international donations were mostly targeted for specific projects. For instance, the United Kingdom and Norway financed the voting by mail; Germany financed voter information campaign; Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, USA and Spain financed production and distribution of the ballots; and the European Commission financed the payments to the polling station committee members. Some countries do not reallocate the donated funds to other election projects, and some request the return of the funds that are not used for the intended purposes - Spain.

All election projects and activities under the 2002 General Elections were financed in accordance with the plan.

Future elections and election activities should also be financed as provided in the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has submitted its 2003 budget proposal to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where it plans the funds needed for its financing and financing its Secretariat, in accordance with the jobs and tasks it is expected to perform the next year in implementation of the election regulations, conflict of interest and political party financing.

According to the Election Laws of the Entities, the Entity Election Commissions are proposing the budget for election implementation at the levels under the responsibility of the entity in accordance with the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Articles 1 and 2). Therefore, those Election Commissions should submit their budget proposals to their respective entity government in connection with the jobs and the scope of jobs they are expected to perform in 2003. The same needs to be done by Municipal and other Election Commissions with respect to the responsible executive agencies.

The coming municipal elections of 2004, according to the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, should be financed at the municipal level. The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina would in this case have the coordinating role, assessing the necessary funds each municipality should provide from its budget. One part of those funds would be used by the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the jobs and projects for which it is responsible. At this time, it is very difficult to say whether all municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina would be able to provide funds for implementation of the municipal elections, so one could expect that in certain circumstances some financial assistance from the cantons, entity, state, or ultimately, the international community, would be necessary. When assessing the necessary funds at the level of municipality, the Election Commission will closely cooperate with the municipal election commissions, taking into account that the entity and cantonal election commissions may give their contribution to the rounding up the financial construction for implementation of the 2004 municipal elections.

The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has also decided to join as a partner in the efforts of the Association of the Election Officials of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the project titled “Initiating the legislative definition of financing the elections and work of the election agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which is expected to result with a proposal of new legislative solutions that would provide a more precise regulation of some open questions related to financing the work of the municipal election commissions, and determining the fees to the polling station committee members.

3. Upgrading the Legislation and Education

In addition to more precise regulation by law of the election financing at all levels, the implementation of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the election process in 2002 pointed at the necessity of supplementing some solutions, regulating them more closely and correcting some errors. In particular, this means the following:

1. More complete and clear behavior of political party, coalition, list of independent candidates or independent candidates during their whole mandate, starting from verification, announcement of the final election results, to the end of their mandates, not only within the 60 day period from the day of elections, as it is currently stated in the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2. More precise and clear regulation of allocation of compensatory mandates to the political parties.

3. Clearer definition of responsibilities of the entity and cantonal election commissions;

4. Precise definition of deadlines for adoption of bylaws and for certain election actions, particularly the five days for appealing to the Appellant Department of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the decision of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina;

5. Incorporate the obligation of all political subjects to deliver the appropriate evidence together with their complaints, otherwise, the complaints should not be taken under consideration;

6. Determine the obligation of political parties to request the approval or report to the responsible municipal agency all cases of posting leaflets, posters, panels, advertisement, and other advertising materials;

7. Specify the public locations where the advertising materials can be posted, and where the election gatherings may be held.

The experience from the last election showed that the representatives of the political parties are not sufficiently knowledgeable of the election process. They have made certain mistakes because they did not fully understand the following:

1. The procedure for submitting the lists of candidates for verification for the elections particularly in terms of which documents they should submit, containing what information;

2. Procedure of accrediting the observers: to which agency their application should be submitted, who can not be the observer, whose work can be observed, and what information should be submitted;

3. Procedure for submitting complaints and appeals: who signs the complaint, to whom it is submitted–two instances and three instances, and deadlines;

4. One special problem is the lack of knowledge about the purpose of the preliminary (incomplete) election results. Some parties identified those results with the final results, so they filed complaints as though those were the final results.


In connection with the above, it is necessary to organize in addition to education of the members of the election commissions and polling station committees as well as the education of political parties. This education should be organized by the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the Association of the Election Officials of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who should be working together and prepare the Changes and Amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the respective bylaws.