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ROUND TABLE: “INITIATING LEGAL DEFINITION
OF FUNDING OF ELECTIONS AND WORK OF ELECTION BODIES IN BIH”
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On April 25, 2003, the Association of Election
Officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AEOBIH) organizes round table
entitled “Initiating legal definition of funding of elections and
work of election bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina” in the hall of
the Council of municipality Novo Sarajevo, Zmaja od Bosne street.
This is the first activity that will be organized
in cooperation with partners from Municipal Election Commissions
(Banja Luka, Novo Sarajevo, Srpsko Novo Sarajevo and Stolac). Selected
members of the Association of Election Officials in BiH, and representatives
of the authorities and election bodies on all levels will attend
this round table. Problem of funding of election activities and
work of the election bodies in BiH will be presented at the round
table, and action that will be conducted by the Association will
be presented to the participants.
AEOBiH claims that due to nonexistence of the
legal regulative in the domain of funding of the elections and work
of the election bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, status of Municipal
Election Commissions (MECs) is very unfavorable and unbalanced in
various parts of BiH, and their work on preparations and implementation
of the elections is heavier or almost impossible. Almost 40% of
all MECs in BiH worked without financial compensation and exclusively
with support of donations for the General Elections in October 2002.
The Association of Election Officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina
has recognized need to urgently regulate an issue of funding of
the elections and work of the election bodies in BiH.
AEOBiH thinks that thanks to the implementation
of this project an issue of functioning of Municipal Election Commissions
will primarily be regulated legally and formally, as well as the
functioning of election commissions on other levels, and that dependence
on foreign donations for implementing all necessary actions in the
process of the elections organization will be avoided.
During the next nine months in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
various activities such as round tables, public discussions, and
press conferences will be implemented in order to prepare Proposals
of changes and amendments to the Election Law of BiH regarding funding
of the elections and work of election bodies. Special accent will
be put on importance of adoption of this Proposal prior to the next
elections, which will be held in 2004.
Besides members of the AEOBiH Legal Council and
members of the partnership municipal election commissions, members
of the Election Commission of BiH, mayors of some municipalities,
members of relevant Ministries of Finance on the entity level and
level of Brcko District, and representatives of the Ministry of
Treasury of BiH will be present among participants of the first
round table.
American Development Foundation (ADF) enables
all activities of the Association of Election Officials through
funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID).
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