Are there fair elections in Doboj without digital identification of voters and scanning of ballots? The representatives of the opposition think that there is none, while the rulers in this city avoid talking about this topic.
This question was opened after the new decision of the Central Electoral Commission on repeating the early elections for the president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. of the RS entity at 31 polling stations in Doboj. Due to irregularities in Doboj, the results of the 2020 local elections in 89 out of 106 polling stations were previously annulled.
The most regular elections so far in Doboj, as judged by Nenad Paleksić, the head of the City Election Commission, the day after the early elections for entity president, were not so regular. The Central Election Commission found election manipulations – forging citizens’ signatures, taking votes away from one candidate and increasing the results of another candidate. That is why the use of digital tools at polling stations in Doboj is, in the opinion of opposition representatives, a condition for all conditions for fair elections in Doboj. They say that they have no confidence in the work of the City Election Commission.
“If the fairest elections in the world were held, no one would believe them, so I think the only solution is to introduce such electoral technology. Then the opposition will not be able to say that the elections were stolen, the government will not have to justify itself. That way, fair and honest elections will be held. Citizens will not be afraid that their vote will be stolen”, believes Vedran Gligorić, councilor of the Socialist Party in GS Doboj.
“We will do our best to fully ensure it, but without new election technologies it is very difficult, so it is definite that new election technologies, first of all a fingerprint scanner, and then a ballot scanner, would greatly contribute to the regularity of elections in Doboj”, says Stefan Gavrić, SDS councilor in GS Doboj.
“For the past 20 years, we have had a situation where Doboj is known for stealing elections, i.e. votes, and I strongly doubt that there is even one percent for honest and fair elections without new election technologies”, says Miroslav Borojević, councilor of the List “For Justice and Order” in GS Doboj.
Representatives of the ruling SNSD did not accept the invitation for an interview. After the CEC’s decision to cancel part of the election results in 17 electoral units in the RS entity, the citizens of Doboj will go to the polls again on February 8 at 31 polling stations.
GIK President Nenad Paleksić did not want to comment on the epilogue of the analysis of part of the voting material from Doboj. Earlier, due to fraud, the results of voting in the 2020 local elections were annulled in this city. Irregularities were then found in 89 out of 106 polling stations. Court proceedings were conducted against the members of the electoral commissions and resulted in their suspended sentences. The sentences were not demotivating for new manipulations at the polling stations in Doboj, he writes BHRT.
