Any dismissal of the members of Bosnia’s Central Election Commission that is not in accordance with the law is unacceptable, OSCE Office in BiH told N1 regarding the announcements coming from the parties that make up the new majority at the state level.  

“The appointment procedure of the CEC members is clearly prescribed by the BiH Election Law. Any illegal procedure in that sphere would violate the very foundations of democracy, and is therefore unacceptable,” the OSCE told N1.

They noted that the implementation of elections is a complex and sensitive process, which requires the CEC, political parties, the judiciary, police agencies and the media to work professionally and with integrity.

“All functional democratic societies have control mechanisms at their disposal, whereby the competencies of each institution must be respected. Therefore, political parties and leaders are obliged to respect the commitment of the CEC to preserve the integrity and fairness of the electoral process, and to generally respect the important role and work of this institution,” the OSCE said.

Finally, this organisation said that they are glad to hear that the coalition negotiations are making progress at all levels and that they hope for a quick outcome.

The centre-right Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) have been expressing dissatisfaction with the work of the CEC since the appointment of new members of this institution, and they have repeatedly said that the members were allegedly not appointed in accordance with the law.