General Elections, 1 October 2006

Following an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ODIHR has deployed an election observation mission (EOM) to observe the general elections called for 1 October 2006. Elections will be held for the three-member Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the president and vice presidents of the Republika Srpska, and for the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska. In addition, elections for the cantonal assemblies of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held concurrently.

These will be the first general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be completely administered by the national authorities, without international membership of the Central Election Commission.

The EOM and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, headed by Ambassador Douglas Alexander Davidson, operate independently under separate mandates.

Long-Term Observation

The EOM, headed by Ambassador Lubomir Kopaj of Slovakia, consists of 14 international core staff based in Sarajevo, drawn from 12 OSCE participating States. Seventeen long-term observers will arrive on 29 August and be deployed throughout the country on 31 August.

The EOM will assess the general elections for their compliance with principles for democratic electoral processes, including commitments agreed to by all OSCE participating States, as well as with national legislation. Observers will closely monitor campaign activities, the work of the election administration and relevant governmental bodies, election-related legislation and its implementation, the media environment, and the resolution of election-related disputes. ODIHR will only comment upon the concurrent cantonal elections to the degree that they may impact upon the general elections.

Election Day

ODIHR has requested 220 short-term observers to be deployed immediately prior to the 1 October elections. These observers will be joined by delegations from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The short-term observers will be deployed throughout the country in multinational teams of two to monitor the opening of polling stations, the voting, the counting of ballots, and the tabulation of results.

The day after the elections, the EOM will issue a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions. A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be issued approximately eight weeks after the end of the observation mission.

Previous Elections

ODIHR has observed a number of electoral events in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the 1998 and 2002 general elections and the 2004 municipal elections.