Will the shortage of staff at the Counting Centre postpone the announcement of the Local Election results?

(Patria) - Will the shortage of staff for vote counting postpone the announcement of the Local Election results? The Main Counting Centre in Sarajevo is short of as many as 200 people. The CEC is looking for staff, hourly wage almost 6 KM.

The recounting of votes from the Local Elections began on October 6. It is still ongoing. Approximately 200 people are working at the Main Counting Centre in Sarajevo on counting votes. However, this number is significantly lower compared to previous years. They are looking for new workers, hourly wage 5.90 KM. Will the shortage of counting workers affect the postponement of the Election results announcement?

So far, almost everything concerning unconfirmed ballots, absentee votes, votes from diplomatic-consular missions, and votes via mobile teams has been counted. We are intensively working on counting postal votes, of which there are over 25,000 verified, but that's not 25,000 ballots, rather over 50,000 because these are local elections - said Irena Hadžiabdić, President of the BiH CEC.

Former member of the BiH CEC, Vehid Šehić, calls for people who were once part of the election administration to come forward: “Control will be increased, there are controllers, it is a transparent process that should prevent any manipulation”.

The Counting Centre operates 24 hours a day and is the place where ballot envelopes arriving from municipalities are controlled and packaged, as well as the complete shipment arriving from abroad. The BiH CEC must resolve the potential problem, as the law clearly stipulates that votes must be counted within 30 days.

It is a responsible job and it must be done by conscientious people. Why they are giving up, I don't know, but the BiH CEC must take all measures to complete this election process as stipulated by the Election Law - Šehić reminds.

In the meantime, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina states that all legally prescribed procedures have been undertaken and that it is expected that the Commission will be able to confirm the results of the Local Elections for all electoral units within the legally prescribed period.

Along with this explanation, the BiH CEC states that after a new call, several hundred interested individuals have applied for this engagement, which means there is no obstacle for the election results to be announced within the legally prescribed period.