Bosnia's Central Election Commission announced that 300 political entities will participate in the 2024 Local Elections, which, according to President Irena Hadziabdic, represents a decrease in the number of parties compared to previous years. She stated that there were 574 political entities in 2020, 451 in 2016, and 383 in 2012.

The Central Election Commission received 122 applications from political parties, of which 117 were certified, and 238 applications for certification of independent candidates, of which 146 were certified and 43 were representatives of national minorities.

“Of the 55 parties whose application was rejected, 10 filed an appeal. As you know, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) did not submit an account number for financing the election campaign. Another subject that deserves attention is the Serb Radical Party – Vojislav Seselj, who was supposed to remove the defects in the name of the party because we concluded that the name glorifies a war criminal and we demanded that Vojislav Seselj be removed within two days. They accepted the request, so they will participate in the local elections as SRS – the Serbian Radical Party,” Hadziabdic said.

She stated that some parties and independent candidates decided to participate in the elections as coalitions and thus the election watchdog received 59 applications for coalitions and nine for lists of independent candidates.

“113 political parties, 76 independent candidates, 43 independent candidates representing national minorities, 59 coalitions and 9 independent lists of candidates are participating in these elections,” she noted.

the CEC President recalled that the process of submitting candidate lists begins on Wednesday and will last until July 8.

Speaking about reports against political parties, she stated that the CEC reacts ex officio and by reports. By June 24, they received 37 complaints, of which 15 were related to premature campaigning, 18 to misuse of public resources, two to paid election campaign, one to hate speech and one to the work of the municipal commission.

“Over 300 instructors are participating in the training of presidents and deputy presidents of polling committees, who were chosen through a public call, and a public competition for the appointment of presidents and deputy presidents of polling committees is also underway, which is open until June 28. So far, 7,600 candidates have applied,” Hadziabdic stated.