EU in BiH and BiH CEC: New Election Technologies to Increase Trust of Citizens in Electoral Process

Head of EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative in BiH, Ambassador Luigi Soreca, and the President of Central Election Commission of BiH (CEC BiH), Jovan Kalaba, opened today the conference "Trust in the Electoral Process: Integrity in a Changing Context" at Europe House in Sarajevo, bringing together representatives of institutions, civil society, media and international experts to discuss new voting technologies and safeguards for electoral integrity.

Ambassador Soreca noted that the ballot scanners and biometric identification devices will be used at all polling stations in BiH, technologies first piloted with EU support two years ago, which are expected to reduce electoral manipulation and increase the speed with which results can be reported.

"Free and fair elections are one of the clearest tests of a country's readiness for the European Union. The new equipment will help reduce electoral manipulation. Nonetheless, free and fair elections depend on much more than technology. BiH institutions carry the primary responsibility in ensuring regularity of the elections, but civil society and independent media are just as essential, with their key role in monitoring and holding the process accountable. This is why the EU continues to support projects that strengthen the integrity of BiH's electoral process, because credible elections depend not only on institutions, but on an engaged civil society and a free, professional media able to inform and scrutinise", said Ambassador Soreca.

CEC BiH President Jovan Kalaba said that the new equipment does not change how citizens vote, by paper ballot, but that the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina are entering a new phase in which citizen trust is put in focus through concrete technological advances, stricter accountability, and complete transparency.

"Equipment guarantees that each ballot will be counted exactly as it is marked. Biometrics permanently solves the problem of proxy voting, while scanners eliminate the influence of the human factor and intentional counting errors, providing preliminary results immediately after the closing of polling stations. When it comes to campaign fraud and misuse of public resources, we highly appreciate the monitoring of the non-governmental sector. However, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a state institution that must strictly apply the law. We cannot punish based on assumptions, but only on clear legal provisions and evidence", said BiH CEC President.

"We have the prerequisites for the freest and fairest elections ever. New election technologies in the form of electronic voter identification and ballot scanning prevent proven electoral theft and fraud. In elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it will no longer be possible to vote twice, vote for another person, vote for a deceased person on the voter list, and most importantly, it will not be possible to use or misuse blank ballots after the polling stations close at 7 p.m. and thus pump up turnout and votes for political favourites. Scanners store an image of each ballot, which means that it will not be possible to add preferences for candidates later, misuse blank ballots again by inserting them into a box or scanner beforehand, and it will not be possible to invalidate or intentionally cancel votes for political opponents, thus reducing their number of votes," said Dario Jovanovic, Project manager of the Coalition "Pod Lupom".

The opening remarks were followed by a presentation of the new electoral equipment now deployed across BiH's polling stations, including a demonstration of the voting process itself, from biometric identification of voters to the scanning and recording of ballots. This gave participants a closer look at how the technology functions in practice and what it means for the way citizens will vote in the upcoming elections.

Two panel discussions followed, examining both the practical implications of the new technologies for electoral integrity and the broader challenges of premature campaigning and the misuse of public resources. Participants agreed that technology alone cannot guarantee trust in elections, and that sustained engagement from BiH's institutions, civil society and independent media, remains essential to a credible electoral process.