Pressemeldingen vår etter besøket i Bosnia

Press release - 664(2010)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: declaration of the PACE pre-electoral mission

Strasbourg, 15.09.2010 – A pre-electoral delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) visited Sarajevo and Banja Luka in order to evaluate the political and campaign environment in the run-up to the general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 October 2010. The delegation met representatives of the main political forces participating in the elections, the Central Election Commission and the Communication Regulatory Agency, as well as representatives of the international community and NGO activists.

The delegation welcomes the peaceful environment of the campaign and commends the Central Election Commission for managing well an extremely complex electoral process. The delegation notes with satisfaction that the CEC is respected and trusted by all political stakeholders and encourages the Commission to continue its work in close co-operation with the Council of Europe.

However, the delegation is concerned by the fact that divisive rhetoric is still strong in this campaign. The delegation gained the impression that key political parties are not engaged enough in a real debate on the main issues of concern for ordinary citizens: economic development and unemployment, and the fight against corruption and organised crime. Debates should focus on concrete reforms which will motivate citizens to vote.

Moreover, the delegation stresses that the rules governing campaign financing are obscure, which does not increase citizens’ confidence in the democratic electoral process. Fair access to broadcast media, particularly public service broadcasting, should be considerably improved, especially when it comes to news programmes and campaign reporting.

Many interlocutors drew the attention of the delegation to the risks of irregularities during the counting process, taking into consideration the complexity of the electoral system. In this respect, the delegation regrets that the network of domestic non-partisan observers is not well developed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The presence of impartial domestic observers will contribute to building trust between political forces and reinforce citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.

The delegation is seriously concerned that, contrary to several recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly as well as in violation of a legally-binding judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, the authorities failed to amend the State Constitution. Consequently, the elections to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to the House of Peoples of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliamentary Assembly, will be organised according to rules which do not comply with the European Convention on Human Rights and its additional Protocols Nos. 1 and 12. It expects the authorities to do their utmost after the elections to urgently resolve this problem.

The Parliamentary Assembly will send a 30-member delegation to observe the general elections on 3 October 2010.

Members of the delegation:

Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL), Head of the Delegation

Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD)

Arben Ahmetaj (Albania, SOC)

Jørgen Poulsen (Denmark, ALDE)

Karin S. Woldseth (Norway, EDG)

Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax : +33 3 90 21 41 34
pace.com@coe.int
assembly.coe.int




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