A Congress delegation, led by Stewart Dickson (United Kingdom, ILDG), carried out a pre-electoral observation mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 19 to 21 September 2018 to assess the campaign and preparations for the elections to the Cantonal Assemblies, which will be held on 7 October. The delegation cooperated in the field with the observation missions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the OSCE/ODIHR.
The delegation met especially the Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Bruce BERTON and the President of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dr. Irena HADŽIABDIĆ, as well as representatives of the Sarajevo and Herzegovina-Neretva Cantonal Assemblies.
On 20 September, the Congress delegation visited Mostar and met representatives of citizens associations in the city of Mostar, grouped together to form the "Elect Mostar" initiative, and representatives of political parties. This meeting was part of the activity of the "Reflection Group on Mostar", established by the Congress to help restore local democracy in the city of Mostar, where there have been no local elections since 2008, due to a political impasse.
Exchanges were also planned with the media and representatives of NGOs, as well as with the Head of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Delegation to the Congress, Marinko CAVARA, and other members of the delegation.
Congress Delegation :
Members of the Congress:
- Mr Stewart DICKSON, United Kingdom (GILDG), Head of Delegation/Rapporteur, Congress Spokesperson on the Observation of Local and Regional Elections
- Mrs Violetta CRUDU, Republic of Moldova (EPP-CCE)
- Mr Robert GRUMAN, Romania (EPP-CCE)
- Mr Vladimir PREBILIC, Slovenia (SOC)
Congress Secretariat :
- Mr Adam DRNOVSKY, Election Observation Officer
[email protected] – Tel: +33 3 6 50 39 29 13 - Mrs Martine ROUDOLFF, Assistant, Local and Regional Election Observation
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Upon request of the competent authorities, the Congress observes local and regional elections in Council of Europe member states and sometimes beyond. To date, nearly 100 election observation missions have been conducted by the Congress. The observation of local elections is one of the priorities of the Congress' action. It is complementary to the political monitoring process of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which is the cornerstone of local democracy in Europe.
