The High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kristijan Šmit, today imposed technical changes to the BiH Election Law, which relate to the integrity of the election process.
Šmit stated that it is an "integrity package" of the electoral process, which can later be refined in the BiH parliament, stressing that it is a technical improvement of the electoral process, which introduces ballot scans and video surveillance.
Its decisions include punitive measures for those who violate election rules, as well as the professionalization of election committees.
"It is support for the process of accession of BiH to the EU, one of those priorities is the changes to the electoral law, first of all I am doing it for the citizens of this country, that there are guarantees for free, democratic and fair elections", said Šmit in his address to the public.
He said that he was making this decision in accordance with the "Bonn powers" and the Dayton Peace Agreement, stressing that the changes to the Election Law do not contain discrimination against anyone.
"With my competences, I am the guarantor of the existence of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the RS, and that is my duty in accordance with the Dayton Agreement. I have to work for all of them," said Šmit.
According to him, these are clear international guidelines, which give enough opportunities for the responsible domestic authorities to get involved in this and to achieve an appropriate balance in the interests of the voters.
Stating that changes to the BiH Election Law have been discussed since 2010, he pointed out that no compromise has been reached on this issue to date and that he had to intervene in the interest of the citizens of BiH, in order to have more transparent and fair elections.
"Citizens who vote want their vote to go to the person they voted for," said the high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The High Representative assessed that, apart from the President of the RS Milorad Dodik, there will be a lot of politicians who will criticize his decision, which is why he called on them to reach an agreement on the election law themselves and adopt it in the BiH parliament.
"Domestic solutions are the best solutions," said Šmit.
He said that his decision will come into force after it is published on the OHR's official website.
Some time before the address of the high representative of the public, Banja Luka's Alternativa television published a draft of the Electoral Law of the Republic of Srpska, the adoption of which was announced by the President of the RS Milorad Dodik, if Šmit imposes changes to the BiH Electoral Law.
An emergency meeting of the Collegium of the National Assembly of the RS is scheduled for tomorrow morning, at which, as expected, an extraordinary session of the Parliament of the RS could be scheduled in connection with the imposed decision by Šmit and the adoption of the Entity Election Law.
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