Amending the Election Law Could Cause Chaos
The amendments to the Election Law being discussed in the BiH House of Representatives today would, if enacted, cause chaos.
These amendments would in effect reinstate the old system. However, the new passive voter registration process is progressing well. Parliamentarians voted to move to this system only in February of this year, and the Central Election Commission is now working at full stretch to to implement this expressed will of parliament – and registration of citizens is already up by more than 10 percent because of it.
Reverting to the old system at this stage would put the smooth running of the elections in doubt. Treating invalid documents as valid for voter registration purposes, by allowing citizens without CIPS cards to vote, as the amendments propose, would undermine the Election Law itself and indeed the whole concept of the Rule of Law.
To sum up: allowing the use of invalid IDs would cause confusion, and might even call into question the legality of the elections.
OHR urges parliamentarians to reject these amendments, which can only jeopardize the integrity of the voter registration process.
Politicians should instead focus on urging all voters to register by the 17 August deadline, rather than amending the Election Law just two months before the elections.