BiH's Central Election Commission: Repeat early elections for RS president in 17 municipalities at 136 polling stations

The decision to annul the elections at the specified polling stations was the seventh item on today’s CEC agenda.

As stated, the decision was adopted on the basis of complaints and established irregularities. It was also noted that manipulations and irregularities were identified, including, among other things, the subtraction and addition of votes for candidates.

“Numerous irregularities were recorded in these early elections. In order to protect the integrity of the electoral process, it is necessary to annul the elections,” the CEC said.

The elections were annulled in electoral units in Prijedor, Laktasi, Banja Luka, Doboj, Stanari, Zvornik, Vlasenica, Bratunac, Nevesinje, Gacko, Rudo, Bileca and Milici. Elections were also annulled at one polling station in the Brcko District. The largest number of annulments occurred in Laktasi, Doboj and Bratunac.

A decision to call new elections will be adopted once this decision on annulment becomes final.

Previously, the CEC had confirmed election results according to which Sinisa Karan, the SNSD candidate, defeated Branko Blanusa, the SDS candidate, by a margin of 9,577 votes. Allegedly, at the 136 polling stations where the elections were annulled, the difference amounted to 15,822 votes.

CEC member Irena Hadziabdic said she could not support such a proposal but agreed that elections should be annulled where irregularities were proven. She said a graphologist had identified a large number of forged numbers and that a recount had also established that votes had been added and subtracted, as well as that invalid ballots had been counted.

“We established the factual situation based on evidence of irregularities and, in my view, this applies to eight electoral units and 108 polling stations. We have now also included certain electoral units due to invalid documents, which is a violation, but that irregularity has not been fully clarified. It is possible that people were allowed to vote with invalid documents, which is a failure of the polling boards,” Hadziabdic said, adding that the annulment of elections was proposed selectively.

CEC member Zeljko Bakalar said that at 119 of the 136 polling stations, more than 900 people voted without a valid identification document.

CEC member Vanja Bjelica Prutina said that the decision to annul the elections is not final and that all parties have the right to appeal.

She stated that the CEC decision is based on a properly established factual situation, adding that the elections were annulled due to forged voter signatures and voting with forged documents.

She also said that more than 2,000 individuals voted using invalid identification documents.

“This decision covers only 908 individuals, and I am of the opinion that even if a single person voted improperly, that is grounds for annulment,” Bjelica Prutina said, adding that the Main Counting Centre established that more than 400 votes were added to one candidate and more than 200 were subtracted from another.