Analysis

OSCE Workshop Stresses Importance of Voter Registration in Bosnia

A workshop on the Central Voter Registry, organised by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), concluded on May 29 in the city of Vlašić.

Some 40 participants from the Central Election Commission and voter registries across Bosnia – including the Republika Srpska – analysed the current state of the Central Voter Registry in Bosnia and discussed obstacles and problems related to regularly updating the Registry, with the aim of adding transparency to the election process.

Ahmed Rifatbegovic, political officer at the OSCE mission to Bosnia, said: “Accuracy of the Central Voter Registry is important for strengthening public trust in the integrity of the election process. We hope that this event contributed to enhancing co-ordination between responsible actors for accuracy as well as its regular updating to improve the election process.”

The president of the BiH Central Election Commission, Irena Hadžiabdić, highlighted the significance of the workshop and said: “Events like this contribute to improvements and more effective data updating in voter registries.”

The workshop is a part of a three-year project, funded by the European Commission and the Austrian Development Agency, and implemented by ODIHR. The project supports the Western Balkan countries in their efforts to follow up on election observation recommendations in areas related to election management, voter registration and media coverage during election campaigns.

Bosnia is scheduled to hold a general election on October 7, 2018.