The BiH Election Law, reinforced by decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, clearly enumerates the respective responsibilities for the governance of elections. As such, the establishment or charging of anybody other than the Central Election Commission (CEC) to organize and conduct elections would violate the constitutional order of BiH, including the Dayton Peace Agreement, the OSCE Mission in BiH told Fena news agency in response to Republika Srpska (RS) entity announcement that they would organize this year's local elections, ignoring the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Unilateral transfers of competencies reduce legal certainty and equality before the law. Concerning the regulation of elections, this would undermine the integrity of the electoral process and its results,” the OSCE Mission stated.

The Mission supports the CEC in bolstering the integrity of elections and strengthening technical capacities to administer elections transparently and effectively.

”The Mission will continue to support the CEC, relevant institutions and civil society to align legislation and practice with OSCE commitments and key international standards and encourages the full implementation of related legislation and ODIHR recommendations,” the OSCE Mission told FENA.