Bosnia and Herzegovina will use biometric voter identification, ballot scanners and electronic transmission of results for the first time at its general elections, in what the Central Election Commission describes as the largest change to the country’s electoral process in years.
The technology is due to be deployed at roughly 5,000 polling stations, with the general elections set for 4 October. The Central Election Commission signed a contract in May with Smartmatic, leading a group of bidders, worth 74,527,455 Bosnian marks, or about 38 million euros. It covers equipment, software, technical support and the printing and distribution of ballots, and runs in three phases beginning with delivery and user training.
Fingerprint scanners sit at the centre of the identification step. Vanja Bjelica-Prutina of the Central Election Commission said the technology directly addresses specific frauds.
“Fingerprint scanners and biometrics directly eliminate identity theft, voting in the name of the dead and improper counting of ballots,” she said.
The procurement has been contested. Smartmatic’s bid came in 17 million marks above the second-ranked bidder, Planet Soft, and three appeals were lodged against the award. After Planet Soft’s appeal was rejected, its owner Vedran Jaric said he would take the matter to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina seeking an interim measure.
The rollout follows pilot use at the 2024 local elections. Rick Holtzapple, head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, said the technologies are meant to strengthen integrity “through more accurate voter identification and vote counting, as well as faster transmission of results.” The commission was careful about the limits. Bjelica-Prutina said scanners cannot prevent vote buying, misuse of public resources or other abuses that occur before election day, and that the commission’s role is to secure a fair campaign rather than only to punish breaches.
Civil society organisations at the same conference pressed that point. Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina said almost 68 million marks have been distributed through one-off payments and similar benefits since the election was called, targeting pensioners, schoolchildren and public sector workers. Srdan Blagovcanin of the organisation called it systematic abuse of public resources.
BIRN raised public procurement as a further concern, with Denis Dzidic pointing to hundreds of millions of marks in tenders announced this year and alleged abuses concentrated at municipal level.
The discussion took place at a conference on the 2026 elections organised by the OSCE Mission and Civil Society BiH, held against what commission representatives described as significant political polarisation. Biometric voter systems have had mixed results elsewhere in the region and beyond, with Uganda opening an investigation after verification kits failed at polling stations in January.
Sources: Sarajevo Times, Sarajevo Times
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
