The more you hate political games, the more reason for you to vote on 2 October, the EU ambassador in Bosnia and Herzegovina Johann Sattler told the citizens in a message ahead of the general election taking place on Sunday across the country.

“Let your voice be heard!,” the ambassador said, urging the citizens to get out and vote in the elections.

He emphasised that the elections are about the quality of healthcare and education, creating the conditions for economic and job growth, fighting corruption, protecting the environment, and even bringing people closer together as opposed to dividing them through fear mongering and artificial crises.

“In Bosnia and Herzegovina, all too often, you hear the words, “I do not care about politics”. And indeed there is much to dislike and reject about the current state of politics in this country. But the way to make a difference is through voting, not by turning your back!,” he stressed.

The ambassador also noted that the best way to combat many irregularities and fraudulent practices in the voting process by voting in droves.

“The more validly casts ballots there are, the more difficult it is for fraudulent and corrupt practices to affect the outcome of the elections,” he said, and called on citizens to report fraudulent and corrupt practices that affect the outcome of the elections

Sattler strongly disagreed with the claims that elections change nothing.

“It is also often stated that voting does not matter – the results are always the same. This is not true. In fact, many of the key electoral races are very close. In past elections, a few thousand votes could have made a difference. So no matter which party or candidate you vote for, your vote matters and will be decisive. Even a few votes more or less per polling station would have been enough to decide some of the closest races,” he said.

He also rejected the idea that policies remain the same regardless of the election results, noting that good governance at various levels of authority proved to bring results for citizens.

“It is our hope that in the next four years, the country’s EU path, which is overwhelmingly supported by this country’s citizens, from Trebinje to Brcko, from Livno to Tuzla, from Visegrad to Bihac, will not be held hostage. We are deeply committed to supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina make progress towards the EU. Strengthening democracy is a key priority on this country’s European path, and this is one of the reasons that we are carrying out a get out the vote campaign called #SvePocinjeIzborom, in order to encourage as many people as possible to exercise their democratic right to vote,” said Sattler.

Voting is about holding politicians and governments to account and signalling what is important to you, the ambassador said in the message

“The problems facing Bosnia and Herzegovina are so numerous that what the country needs is bold leadership with a clear popular mandate to carry out reforms that advance your interests, including advancing on the European path. We ask that you all go out to vote on 2 October keeping this in mind,” he concluded.