Mujezin wrote to Čović: Enable equal opportunity for all in electoral legislation

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Amir Mujezin, activist and advocate for amending the Election Law since 2017 to enable blind and visually impaired persons to vote in elections, sent an open letter to Dragan Čović, president of HDZ BiH, regarding amendments to that law.

„Bearing in mind that you have imposed the ethnonational concept in public and in circles that decide on the future of this country as the only relevant one for amending electoral legislation, although the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the cases Sejdić-Finci, Pilav, Zornić and others demand the opposite, I am addressing you in this letter as a visually impaired person and a man who wants equal rights for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of nationality, skin color, status or any other difference.

Amendments to the election law should, first of all, introduce transparency and electronic voting.

I believe you are aware that the Central Election Commission of BiH accepted the Report of the Interdepartmental Working Group for analyzing the situation and proposing modalities for introducing new technologies in the electoral process. On that occasion, conclusions were adopted obliging ministries at the state level and the Central Election Commission to continue monitoring innovations in the field of ICT that will be applicable in the electoral process.

In accordance with that, the Central Election Commission of BiH formed an Ad hoc working group consisting of two representatives each from the CEC and the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which will have insight into the technologies and be tasked with testing them for selection and application in the upcoming electoral process. One of these new modalities is the „Telephone Voting System“ which concerns voting by blind persons who have so far been able to vote only through an intermediary, without having any way to verify whether the voting was carried out according to the will and desire of blind persons.

This is an innovative system, the voting procedure is very simple and financially completely acceptable because in the first year the system would cost the state only 5 KM, while in subsequent electoral cycles the price would be lower. The system provides a method by which, by calling a specific number and entering a code that the CEC would deliver to blind persons in Braille, a voice reading of all parties and candidates for all levels of government being elected would follow. Voting would be maximally protected, because persons with disabilities would receive a voucher with a code at their home address that would be known only to the voter and the CEC member in charge of this system.

The voting procedure itself would last 2-5 minutes. After voting, the voucher with the code would become unusable. It is important to note that this voting system, besides being primarily intended for blind and visually impaired persons, is also adaptable to persons with intellectual difficulties as well as persons with disabilities who, due to architectural barriers, are unable to cast their vote by coming to the polling station. This system would give everyone equal opportunities to participate in performing civic duties.

What is the goal of my addressing you – enable blind and visually impaired persons to vote in a transparent manner, and I hope that you will advocate for this possibility of electronic voting to be included in the Election Law of BiH. And to conclude, since you constantly refer to European values and principles, let us ensure that in our electoral legislation everyone has an equal opportunity, and I believe that blind and visually impaired persons deserve this right without question. Hoping that you will consider this open letter, I cordially greet you“, wrote Mujezin.