prijava
SARAJEVO, May 24 (FENA) - At yesterday's session, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC BiH) adopted a Decision on postponing the Local Elections 2020 in BiH, which, according to this decision, will be held on Sunday, November 15, instead of October 4, when they were originally announced.
President of the CEC BiH Vanja Bjelica-Prutina announced today at a press conference that postponement of the local elections was due to 'breaking' of the deadline within which the competent institutions had to provide funds for their implementation under the BiH Election Law.
In that context, she reminded of the statement of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Zoran Tegeltija, who said that CEC BiH should continue with the preparation of the Local Elections, and leave the issue of the funding to the Council of Ministers of BiH.
In this regard, she appealed to the BiH Council of Ministers to act upon the request of the CEC BiH from May 18 and make a special decision on funding of the local elections.
Namely, from May 7, when the CEC BiH called the Local Elections, the legal deadline of 15 days began in which the competent institutions had to provide funds for implementation of elections under the Election Law of BiH.
Bjelica-Prutina further states that the CEC BiH also adopted the Instruction on deadlines and sequence of electoral activities, given the changed circumstances concerning the date of calling the local elections, which relate, above all, to alleviate measures and restrictions related to the situation caused by coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, after consultations with the BiH Public Procurement Agency, the CEC BiH decided to announce public procurements based on the estimated values of procurements envisaged and approved in the Framework Budget Document of the BiH Institutions for the period 2019-2021, which refers to Local elections 2020.
The President of the BiH Central Election Commission stated that the election campaign starts on October 16 and lasts until the beginning of the election silence, i.e. until November 14, at 07.00 AM.
Bjelica-Prutina said that for the activities carried out by the CEC BiH in the Budget of BiH institutions it is necessary to provide about 4.2 million KM and that the remaining funds needed for the elections are provided by cities and municipalities in their budgets, emphasizing that CEC will use all available legal possibilities to ensure the smooth conduct of the election process.
Responding to a press inquiry regarding the allegations related to the appointment procedure, composition and nature of the CEC, as well as "being a political institution whose members are closely linked to political parties", the President of the CEC BiH Vanja Bjelica-Prutina pointed out that it is clear that CEC does not appoint its members, but that the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly does so.
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