Opposition from RS united: Amendments to the BiH Election Law to restore citizens' trust in the electoral process

(Patria) - The leaders of opposition parliamentary parties from Republika Srpska at the state level stated today in Sarajevo that they support the introduction of new modern technologies in the electoral process, as well as the adoption of amendments to the BiH Election Law.

PDP leader Branislav Borenović, addressing a press conference, said that there is no more important issue for the future of BiH than the amendments to the BiH Election Law, the introduction of new modern technologies, and the adoption of an integrity package that will ensure fair and free elections.

According to him, the BiH Parliament is the place where the law amendments should be adopted, in the manner in which, almost a month ago, a majority of state representatives made a decision instructing the BiH Council of Ministers to draft and propose to the Parliament amendments to the Election Law.

The goal, Borenović states, is the introduction of new modern technologies - scanning of ballots, fingerprinting, and electronic identification of each voter's personal documents.

Branislav Borenović (Photo: Patria)

He believes that only in this way can citizens' trust in the electoral process be restored, the country saved from general anarchy, and "from what we have witnessed in the recent period."

- We are witnessing something that is not befitting of a normal democratic society where the government should solve citizens' problems, where they should present their results - Borenović noted.

He also assesses that this is partly a result of electoral corruption, which has gained so much momentum and entered all pores of the society we live in.

Furthermore, Borenović stated that the opposition from the RS strongly supports the introduction of new modern technologies and amendments to the BiH Election Law.

From today's press conference (Photo: Patria)

- I have no doubt and I expect that this law can gain support in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, and with general political will, if there is any political awareness at all, also in the House of Peoples.

So that we finally enter an electoral process where the election result will be the real will of the voters, not of those who steal and through electoral manipulations abuse the entire system we live in - added the PDP leader.

The head of SDS, Milan Miličević, says that their primary goal is transparent, fair, democratic elections.

For them to be implemented, Miličević believes that a change of the existing Election Law is necessary, because it is "the source and core of all corruption that subsequently occurs."

- From electoral corruption begins the formation of corrupt levels of government, from local to high levels, and in this way we get corruption that spreads throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, in both entities.

To respect every vote, every voter, and to restore trust in the electoral process, a new Election Law is needed.

Milan Miličević (Photo: Patria)

- First of all, we are talking about what is crucial, and that is technical changes to the Election Law in the sense that at every polling station, every voter has their vote protected through methods that are known everywhere in the democratic world, from scanners, biometrics to video surveillance, with a situation where the possibility of secret voting is guaranteed - Miličević notes.

He also believes that it is completely irrational to conduct any pilot project in individual municipalities or polling stations in the upcoming local elections.

- You cannot partially conduct fair elections. Elections are either fair or they are not, and conducting them partially only to have some kind of advertisement, how it is possible to conduct fair elections through pilot projects and on election day, I think it is not a rational thing and we will not accept such a variant - said Miličević.

He added that they accept what will offer fair elections and protection of every vote, every voter.

Nebojša Vukanović (Photo: Patria)

At the press conference, the leader of the List for Justice and Order, Nebojša Vukanović, also spoke, saying that anyone who is against the introduction of technical amendments to the BiH Election Law, scanners, and video surveillance has legitimized themselves as someone who manipulates the electoral will of citizens.