Bosnia and Herzegovina adopts new ballots and fingerprint ID for 2026 election

Bosnia and Herzegovina new ballot design fingerprint identification election scanners 2026 general election

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Central Election Commission (CIK BiH) has announced that the general election on 4 October 2026 will use a redesigned ballot system. Voters will receive two paper sheets: an informational sheet and a voting sheet on which they must fill in full circles next to the name of the chosen party and the candidate numbers, using a chemical pen or marker. The party circle is now mandatory; a ballot marked only with numbers will be invalid.

For the first time, voters will be authenticated by scanning their fingerprint at the polling station. After presenting an identity document, a biometric device will compare the fingerprint with the state registry before issuing a printed slip. The ballot sheets will be scanned and tallied electronically, but a parallel manual count will be retained as a safeguard. The CIK has also issued a tender worth roughly one million convertible marks to verify the scanning and biometric equipment and will run a voter‑education campaign with videos and instructions. The reforms aim to reduce fraud, prevent multiple voting and improve the accuracy of the count while keeping the familiar paper‑ballot process.

Entities

Bosnia and Herzegovina · Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina · Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK BiH) · Republic of Croatia · Suad Arnautović · Voters

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

[● 4 SOURCES] Ballots will be scanned electronically and votes counted electronically, while a manual count will also be performed as a control. tuzlalive.ba · interview.ba · www.072info.com · 6yka.com
[● 2 SOURCES] Voters can give preferential votes for up to three candidates from the same party list. centralna.ba · bug.ba
[DISPUTED] The general election will be held on 4 October 2026. bug.ba · centralna.ba · tuzlalive.ba · interview.ba
[● 4 SOURCES] Voters must fill in full circles next to the party name with a chemical pen or marker; an X is no longer accepted. bug.ba · centralna.ba · www.vijesti.ba
[● 5 SOURCES] Fingerprint biometric identification will be used for voter authentication for the first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina elections. tuzlalive.ba · interview.ba · 6yka.com · face.ba · www.vecernji.ba
[● 4 SOURCES] Voters will receive two paper sheets, one informational and one voting sheet, for the 2026 election. bug.ba · centralna.ba · www.vijesti.ba
[○ 1 SOURCE] The CIK will run a voter‑education campaign with videos and instructional material about the new ballot system. centralna.ba
[○ 1 SOURCE] The Central Election Commission launched a tender worth about one million convertible marks to verify the scanning and biometric equipment. www.072info.com