The deadline for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s diaspora to register for the October 4 general elections expired on July 21, with the Central Election Commission confirming that 31,303 citizens had met the conditions to vote from abroad. The figure represents a modest uptake from the e Elections portal, which saw 49,974 user accounts opened by July 20, but it masks a deeper crisis of participation. An additional 7,511 applications were still being processed, 7,483 remained in the input phase, and 3,677 were rejected due to documentation deficiencies, incorrect proof of residence, non compliant signatures, and incomplete paperwork. The largest contingents of approved voters came from Germany (10,353), Croatia (5,924), Austria (4,381), Serbia (2,169), Sweden (2,005), and Switzerland (1,718).
The CEC has framed the introduction of digital registration as “a significant step forward” in facilitating diaspora voting. Yet diaspora representatives tell a different story. Safet Alispahić, vice president of the World Diaspora Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, described the response as “very weak compared to their total number,” noting that more and more people are giving up on participating because the process is “complicated and expensive.” The federation had sent an initiative to the Parliamentary Assembly for the introduction of electronic voting, but it was never put into procedure. The core grievance is structural: unlike many countries where out of country registration is permanent, BiH citizens must re register for every election cycle and vote by mail, a burden that discourages consistent participation.
The skepticism runs deeper than logistics. Vehid Šehić, former president of the CEC and current head of the Strategic Committee of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom,” predicted that the number of registered voters will not correspond to actual turnout. “Past experience shows that about 60 percent of registered voters from outside the country exercise their right to vote,” he said, attributing the gap to a “loss of trust in political actors.” His assessment is borne out by historical data: while diaspora registration grew by 77.54% between 2010 and 2016, reaching 65,398 voters for the local elections that year, turnout has consistently lagged behind registration. The 2026 figure of 31,303 approved voters pales in comparison to the diaspora’s estimated size—roughly two million Bosnians live abroad, with significant communities across Europe and North America.
The October 4 elections will be the first to feature new electoral technologies, including electronic voter identification and ballot scanners, following years of advocacy by civil society groups. The “Pod lupom” Coalition has welcomed the move as a “historic step forward” but emphasized that the implementation phase will be critical, requiring thorough testing and independent verification. For diaspora voters, however, the technological upgrade at home does not address the fundamental barriers they face abroad. The requirement to re register for each election, the reliance on postal voting with its delays and uncertainties, and the absence of electronic voting options all contribute to a system that technically includes the diaspora but practically excludes it. As Alispahić put it, the diaspora sends money home, the least the state could do is make it easier for them to send their votes. Whether the 31,303 registered voters actually cast ballots in October will be a test not just of logistics, but of whether Bosnia and Herzegovina’s political class still believes the diaspora matters.
