At the invitation of the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe deployed a mission to observe the local elections held on 6 October 2024 throughout the country. The Congress mission was led by Carla Dejonghe (Belgium, ILDG) and involved 25 Congress observers from 20 countries, including one expert and four members of the Secretariat.
The deployment on the ground on election day was preceded by preparatory meetings on 4 and 5 October in Sarajevo with the Central Election Commission, members of the diplomatic corps, media representatives, domestic and international NGOs, as well as representatives of various political parties. A briefing with the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Core Team was organised together with the delegation from the European Parliament.
On election day, 12 Congress teams were deployed to different districts across the country. "We welcome the technical improvements resulting from the 2024 amendments on the Electoral Law, which aimed to ensure that some technical aspects of the electoral process are more in line with past Congress recommendations and provide for stronger integrity safeguards," said Carla Dejonghe at the joint press conference with OSCE/ODIHR and the European Parliament on 7 October 2024.
The delegation regretted that the short timeframe to carry out the changes brought by the amendments and the lack of resources of the election administration did not provide sufficient time for practical implementation and training.
"For Bosnia and Herzegovina's local democracy to continue to progress, efforts to increase public engagement and trust are needed, as yesterday's low turnout indicates. In that regard, we particularly regret that the number of female candidates for mayoral positions remains very low, underlining the need for targeted efforts to improve the representation of women in local leadership," stated Ms Dejonghe.
The Congress draft report and recommendation will be submitted for adoption at the 48th Congress session in March 2025.
Preliminary statement of findings
Press release from the International Monitoring Mission
