Second Annual Conference in Teslic

Page 5

The major challenge facing the nationalization of the Election process is building confidence in the system. It is not that authorities in BiH cannot count ballots or cannot open and operate polling stations. The problem is that citizens do not have confidence in the system or in the authorities that the elections will be conducted fairly.

In the United States, we are witnessing a historic display of public discussion over the election system. Many Americans are, for the first time, being educated on the intricacies of the US election system. Most Americans have never given much thought to how their ballots are designed; most have never cared whether the ballots were counted by hand or by machine. And, until a few weeks ago, very few Americans could explain to you the system of Electoral College. This is not because Americans are ignorant, but because they had confidence in the system and never questioned the authorities' ability to deliver free and fair elections.

Despite its technical nature, the administration of elections can be highly politicized and provoke strong reactions from everyone involved. Regardless of how correctly and honestly the administration of elections is conducted, if citizens don't have confidence in the process the entire system can be poisoned. This leads to a lack of confidence in those who win elections and, therefore, the governments that take power based on the election results.

A lack of trust in the electoral machinery and administration is one of the reasons there are so many safeguards in place and monitoring by the international community, political parties and civil society. This lack of trust exists to some degree in many countries, even stable, long term democratic countries, even in my own country of Canada. In Canada, since the government - the ruling party - is responsible for appointing election administration officials, opposition parties monitor the process, particularly on Election Day, to ensure that the elections are conducted fairly.

Many countries in Eastern Europe have seen the growth of domestic organization whose mandate is to monitor the administration and conduct of the election process. To name a few, there is the Bulgarian Association for Fair Elections and Civil Rights, the Pro Democracy Association in Romania, the Society for Democratic Culture in Albania, and GONG in Croatia.

Let me address the nationalization of the BiH election process. It is perhaps easier to explain what nationalization is not. It is not the nationalization of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are not trying to create a Bosnian & Herzegovinian version of the OSCE Mission. Nationalization simply means the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina are taking over the responsibility for the administration and conduct of the election process in a way that works for Bosnia & Herzegovina. You, as election professionals, will understand that this is not as simple as it sounds. Elections in Bosnia & Herzegovina are complicated. They are complicated because the General Agreement Framework for Peace in Bosnia & Herzegovina guarantees the right of citizens to vote for their pre-war municipalities. It guarantees the right for candidates to run for office in their pre-war municipalities. These rights of voters and candidates complicate every aspect of the election system from voter registration to ballot combinations.

In the last five years, Bosnia & Herzegovina has benefited from the financial commitment to the election process by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The OSCE's mandate to finance and organize elections is, however, over. In the next year, our role will be mostly advisory as we begin transferring skills and knowledge to the new Bosnian Election Commission and secretariat. The success of the nationalization of the election administration depends on a strong working partnership between the OSCE and the national authorities.

The first step in the nationalization process is the passing of a permanent election law. We hope that the new parliament will consider passing the law as soon as possible. Once the law is passed, the institutions responsible for election administration can be established.

The draft election law sets out the establishment of a BiH Election Commission that will be supported by a secretariat. The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina will oversee and advise on the creation of these two bodies. The election commission secretariat with the election administration will be established in a separate location in a government building. The BiH authorities will be expected to budget for a reasonable staff of the Election Commission administration. The OSCE will support the secretariat with stipends for key staff in order to sustain the administration next year.

A major concern in the transfer of competencies to local authorities next year, will be to keep the skills and knowledge, which has been developed during the OSCE's tenure of the election process. Bosnian & Herzegovina authorities have not organized an election by themselves in 10 years. Much has changed in these 10 years. The investment made over the last few years to transfer technical knowledge to OSCE national staff should be maximized by maintaining a number of key personnel within the organization in 2001 as the transition is taking place. A sustainable election administration will require BiH authorities to adopt and absorb sophisticated and complex systems, particularly in the areas of voter registration, out of country voters' register, voter information and, database development and maintenance.

In addition to the state and entity election administrations, the work and expertise of Municipal Election Commissions will need to be further developed while they are, at the same time, integrated into the new election administration.

To those of you who are members of Municipal Election Commissions, I want to tell you that I know yours is not an easy job. It will only get more difficult over the next year.

We have witnessed a fascinating evolution of the Municipal Election Commissions over the last five years. For the most part, the last elections demonstrated that most Municipal Election Commissions are professional and conduct their work with integrity and responsibility. Unfortunately, that is not the case in every municipality. And the unscrupulous actions of a few Municipal Election Commissions have the effect of reducing confidence of all the voters. The OSCE is ending its financial commitment to Municipal Election Commissions. For most of you, I know that you will continue your work because it is important and you have made a professional commitment to the democratic process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is why an organization like the Association of Election Officials of BiH is so valuable. As a group you are taking responsibility to educate yourselves and to act professionally and with the integrity your positions demand. Despite my 20 years involvement in politics, I continue to believe that politics is an honorable profession. I believe that the selection of representatives through democratic elections is a significant and essential part of a modern society. You, as election officials, have a key role in this process. Your work and actions can make the difference between a society which has faith and trusts that the system works on their behalf, or a society where voters are mistrustful and do not believe that their vote makes a difference.

Question and Answer Session

Q: How can MECs and AEOBiH assist in improving the quality of elections in BiH ?

A: Municipal Election Commissions can conduct their meetings in public. You will find in most democracies, that people do not want to attend these meetings - but they are invited/allowed to participate and that in itself is enough for most people. If you organize private MEC meetings most people would, however, consider that to be very suspicious. It is, in other words, important to maintain a transparent organization. It is important to make sure that people chosen to MEC positions are truly the right people for the job. MEC members should not be members primarily because of their membership of a certain political party. The work of AEOBiH and the skills and expertise you gain is important as a confidence building measure. People will recognize that you - as election officials - belong to a group of trained professionals, where the group is holding all group members accountable for their election-related conduct.

Q: Considering the result and the performance by nationalist parties, do you feel defeated?

A: I do not at all feel defeated. Ultimately, people make their choices. I should not question their choices, as long as they have been given the opportunity to make their choices freely and free of intimidation. I'm disappointed that we are yet to reach a point where the political parties understand and use the elections as a competition field involving ideas and proposals for the future. I've been here since 1996 and I can, however, see improvements. This time, during the November Elections, people made far more informed choices in comparison with previous elections.

Q: Could you outline contingency steps to be taken by the OSCE (regarding nationalization of elections) if the parliament fails to adopt the Election law?

A: One of the contingencies could be that the High Representative imposes the law. I do not know if that will happen. We have a PEC secretariat that is functioning. The lack of an election law does not leave the election administration in a void and we are preparing to act as quickly as we can once the election law is in place.