The Agency for Identification Documents, Registers, and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina (IDDEEA) is pleased to announce that the pilot projects for integrating cutting-edge and novel technologies into the voting process in the 2024 local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina surpassed expectations.
These projects, carried out in cooperation with the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CiK BiH) with the technical support of IDDEEA, and through financial support of the Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, represent an important step towards the modernization of the election process in our country. Major improvements have been made in the security and transparency of elections, as well as the application of the provisions of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Election Law, with the introduction of voter authentication and result transmission systems, as well as biometric identification at specific polling places. The entire system and tested technological solutions turned out to be highly successful, and 96% of voters who tested these technologies confirmed biometric identification and authentication itself. This highlights and validates the reliability and quality of all relevant databases as well as the system that IDDEEA technically manages, maintains, and enhances.
This achievement is of great importance for the improvement of electoral integrity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and modern and advanced technologies were tested in the electoral system for the first time in the history of our country. In this way, IDDEEA, in cooperation with the Central Election Commission, ensured that technological tools and methods were applied to guarantee the security and accuracy of voter identity confirmation, as well as their identification and verification in compliance with the highest democratic standards in Europe. We were convinced of the functionality, reliability, and security of the system and the application of new technologies at the polling stations themselves in the electoral unit Stari Grad Sarajevo, which were visited by the director of IDDEEA, Mr. Almir Badnjević, with associates, members of the CEC of BiH and H.E. Luigi Soreca, Ambassador of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We want to give special recognition and gratitude to our employees who have demonstrated throughout this process their professionalism and dedication to the established goals. Throughout this process, plans, prepared actions, and solution implementation were completed independently. On election day, all organisational, human, and technical resources of IDDEEA were dedicated to providing technical support and managing the system’s implementation and the election process.
Our success would not have been possible without the remarkable cooperation with the CEC of BiH, which was confirmed by the president of the CEC at today’s midday press conference. On this occasion, IDDEEA once again praises the commitment and engagement of the CEC of BiH. Also, it is very important to emphasise and point out that all these undertakings were implemented without spending any funds from the budget of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and all technological solutions were developed and implemented exclusively with internal resources and with the support and help of our international partners.
In the future period, IDDEEA, in cooperation with the Central Election Commission of BiH, will perform an additional analysis of the obtained results regarding the application of new technologies in the election process. Based on these analyses, additional adjustments will be made to the functionality of the mentioned systems to achieve even better results in identification and authentication, staff training, further development, and their application in the election process. All of these efforts constitute large and important progress towards the democratisation of the election process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as a turning point. They also attest to our unwavering commitment to the ongoing development and application of new technologies for the benefit and advantage of all BiH citizens.