Zenica police investigating seal tampering on room storing election ballots

(Patria) - A police investigation began in the early afternoon at the Zenica City Administration building due to alleged tampering with the seal on the room where sensitive election material for the Local Elections in Zenica has been stored since yesterday, writes Zenicablog.

This portal writes that the seal on the outside of the hall is undamaged, but the one on the doors leading from the interior of the City Administration building to the material is damaged.

According to preliminary information, the police were called to place a seal on the doors yesterday. The officers refused to do so, and reinforcements and investigators were called to determine who had entered unauthorized.

According to the City Administration, other, non-sensitive election material was being "brought in" there, and during the previous hours, several people entered and exited the room where the material is located.

It is not yet known who removed the seal and entered the room, other than the police, nor whether anything was taken from it.

After 3 PM, a team from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Zenica-Doboj Canton arrived at the scene, and it needs to be determined whether and to what extent the election process has been "contaminated", i.e., whether anything is missing and if so - where the stolen material might have "ended up".

We remind you that opposition parties in Zenica have repeatedly warned the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina that a significant number of members of the City Election Commission (GIK), as well as polling station committees in the field, are employed by the City Administration, public enterprises and institutions, or are family and relatives of such individuals and politically active persons in the ruling party BHI KF in Zenica.

This latest incident will certainly, regardless of how the investigation concludes, damage trust in the GIK itself and others involved in the election process, writes Zenicablog.