| ELECTION OFFICIALS
DISCUSS 2002 GENERAL ELECTIONS AND
AEOBIH LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY
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The Fourth Annual Conference of the Association
of Election Officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AEOBiH) entitled
“Elections 2002 and AEOBiH Sustainability” was held from 12-15 December
2002 in Neum under the auspices of the US Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the International Foundation for Election
Systems (IFES). The main topics of the conference included the analysis
of General Elections that were held in October 2002, as well as
the issue of long-term sustainability of AEOBiH.
The conference hosted two hundred (200) AEOBiH
members and fifty (50) national and international guests, including
representatives of the BiH Election Commission, and election officials
from Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Turkey, Romania, Hungary and the
USA. Representatives of USAID and IFES, organizations that fund
and support the work of AEOBiH, were also in attendance.
Mr. Howard Sumka, Director of the USAID Mission
in BiH, emphasized that now, when OSCE Elections Department is no
longer around, the election officials in BiH need to become the
primary advocates for all elections-related issues, including the
matters such as financing elections and keeping the voter register
accurate and useful. “In order to accomplish these goals, you need
to maintain a strong, healthy Association of Election Officials.
The fate of the Association is now in your hands and USAID will
continue to assist you as we can.” – Mr. Sumka added.
In five professional development workshops that
were held during the conference AEOBiH members discussed the topics
including nomination and training of polling station committee members,
legal definition of funding of election activities and bodies, coordination
of activities between election bodies, voter registers’ updating,
and AEOBiH sustainability projects.
One of the most important conclusions of
the AEOBiH Fourth Annual Conference refers to the need to urgently
define the issue of funding elections and the work of election commissions
in BiH. In the coming period, AEOBiH, in cooperation with the BiH
Election Commission, plans to conduct a public advocacy campaign
whose goal will be to legally define the financing of elections
and the work of election bodies in BiH. In addition to that, AEOBiH
will continue to work towards attaining its long-term sustainability
by applying for various election, education and democracy projects
to a range of international donor organizations, as well as finding
solutions for accessing local funding through identifying business
and government resources.
Association
of Election Officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Terezija 16, 71000 Sarajevo
Tel: 033/ 250 806, Fax: 033/ 250 801
Email: aleksandrab@aeobih.com.ba
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