Bosnia and Herzegovina is preparing for its most technologically advanced election in history, with the Central Election Commission (CEC BiH) scrambling to implement biometric voter identification and ballot scanning systems across the country before voters head to the polls on October 4. The ambitious rollout, announced earlier this year, aims to tackle long standing concerns over electoral fraud and restore public confidence in a democratic process that has been plagued by irregularities, vote buying, and allegations of systemic manipulation. With only months remaining until election day, the commission is working against the clock to procure approximately 6,000 biometric devices and an equal number of ballot scanners, train thousands of election officials, and conduct a nationwide trial run of the new system.
The technological overhaul represents the culmination of years of advocacy by civil society groups and international partners, including the OSCE, which has supported the CEC through its “Election Integrity Project.” A pilot program during the 2024 local elections in seven municipalities and the Brčko District tested biometric identification at 138 polling stations, with officials hailing the results as a success. In March 2026, the CEC selected Smartmatic as the preferred bidder for the nationwide contract, a four year deal worth approximately 74.5 million Bosnian marks (around 38.1 million euros). The company, which has deployed voting technology in over 35 countries, will supply equipment designed to prevent duplicate voting, voter impersonation, and the misuse of unused ballots. Public support for the reforms appears robust, with surveys indicating that 83% of citizens back the introduction of new technologies as a tool against election theft.
Yet the path to implementation has been anything but smooth. The procurement process faced repeated legal challenges that delayed the timeline, forcing the CEC to compress what would normally be years of preparation into mere months. The new system also introduces significant changes to how citizens will actually cast their votes. Under the redesigned ballot, candidates’ names will no longer appear directly on the paper, instead, voters wishing to cast preferential votes for individuals within a party list must enter the candidates’ assigned serial numbers. This shift has raised concerns about voter preparedness, prompting civil society organizations like the Pod lupom Coalition to call for an intensive public information campaign. Former CEC member Vehid Šehić downplayed the need for extensive voter training, arguing that the process remains simple and that technical experts will be stationed at polling stations to troubleshoot issues. Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina, meanwhile, has warned of a parallel disinformation campaign falsely claiming that the biometric devices could be used to identify individual voters.
The stakes could hardly be higher. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s October 4 elections will determine the composition of the tripartite state presidency, the Parliamentary Assembly, entity level leadership in both the Federation and Republika Srpska, and the assemblies of the Federation’s ten cantons. More than 3.41 million voters have been registered as of early May. The OSCE has already invested heavily in training over 4,300 election officials at 107 locations and deployed international technology experts to advise the CEC. Still, observers caution that while the reforms are a critical step forward, they are not a panacea. The November 2025 early presidential election in Republika Srpska was marred by allegations of fraud, misuse of public resources, and inflammatory rhetoric, according to an OSCE assessment mission. With political disputes over budget allocations and staffing continuing to shadow the process, and with the CEC still finalizing its operational plan, the coming weeks will test whether Bosnia and Herzegovina can translate technological promise into electoral reality.
