As part of the European Union’s pilot project to support the work of the Central Election Commission, equipment and software solutions worth over 600,000 euros were delivered to the premises of the Center for Education of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The goal of this project is to improve the integrity, transparency, and efficiency of the electoral process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the presence of representatives from the local communities where the new equipment will be used, parliaments, political parties, non-governmental organisations, and the media, Ambassador Johann Sattler, Head of the EU Delegation in BiH and EU Special Representative in BiH handed over the equipment to the Central Election Commission of BiH.
During the project, 175 laptops, 175 fingerprint-based electronic voting machines, and 175 barcode reading software for ID documents were acquired, together with the required servers and software solutions for device management. It is now possible to stop the misuse of voting rights thanks to the introduction of new voter identification methods that include fingerprints. Furthermore, the use of new systems for entering and transmitting results allows for improved communication between election commissions and faster publication of results, both of which increase public trust in the process and its overall efficiency. The chance to engage in a simulation of using new equipment and learn about the benefits of using new equipment was provided to project partners and local community representatives.
Dr. Irena Hadžiabdić, the president of the BiH Central Election Commission, and Mr. Almir Badnjević, the director of the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers, and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also attended the ceremony with the Ambassador Sattler.
IDDEEA was selected as the technical support authority for this project based on our competencies, and for that I am grateful. I hope this pilot project ends successfully and that new technologies and everything implemented in these elections will be what is needed for democracy to win and for the citizens to get their vote,” Director Badnjević stated.
Also, IDDEEA BiH is responsible for the entire technical processing of all data important for the records of the Central Voters Register. Also, the Agency provides data based on which CEC BiH creates the voter list, and CEC BiH is also responsible for the final verification, validation, and determination of the voter list. Through these activities, the Agency actively participates and contributes to ensuring the transparency of the electoral process, which is one of the 14 EU priorities set before Bosnia and Herzegovina.