The former mayor of the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, Camil Durakovic, urged voters abroad who have not received their ballots in time via mail not to open them and not to throw them away as they may still be able to vote.

This especially refers to voters in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and some other European countries where there were reports that Bosnian citizens only received their ballots yesterday.

“The Central Election Commission (CEC) has instructed that you should not throw away the envelopes that you received yesterday, today or may receive in the coming days. Don’t open them. Wait for further instruction. It seems like the CEC will hold an emergency session where it could decide that you may still be able to vote,” Durakovic said in a video he posted on social media, adding that this news is “encouraging.”

The CEC had previously warned that there were problems with postal traffic due to the coronavirus pandemic and changed its instructions in order to enable citizens living outside of Bosnia to exercise their right to vote.