Current status

Validated

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Contributor(s)

First contributor: Local Democracy Agency Mostar
Partner contributor: OKC Abrasevic
Partner contributor: City of Mostar

Summary

Encouraged by the fact that local elections were not held in Mostar for many years, and that its citizens were therefore denied the right to vote as well as the right to run in local elections, in 2016, Local Democracy Agency Mostar came up with an idea, as part of the “Youth Take Over” project activity, to organize an action called “Elect Mostar”. This “ad hoc” action, which aimed at organizing “fictitious local elections” on the day of real local elections in the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was supported by Mostar CSOs dealing with youth issues: Youth Council of Mostar, OKC Abrasevic, Association of young psychologists and Youth Power. The goal was to restore the basic democratic right of the citizens of Mostar, to vote and to be elected. The action was extremely covered by local and regional media and noticed by the international community and foreign missions in BiH. Over time, this initiative grew into a Coalition “Elect Mostar”, and became a platform that spread the voice of disenfranchised citizens through its activities. From 2016 to 2020, “Elect Mostar” activities were recognized at the national and international level, especially by the Council of Europe, resulting in a series of meetings with the Coalition. The Council of Europe decided to establish a Reflection Group for Mostar, and through the work of the Reflection Group, and based on a series of consultations with the Coalition, in 2021, began implementing the project “Building democratic participation in the City of Mostar”. Four years after the creation of the initiative “Elect Mostar”, the citizens of Mostar have finally regained their active and passive suffrage.

From the perspective of the Local Authority: the City of Mostar has a long and good co-operation with the NGO sector in the city. LDA Mostar is one of the best in its field and very pro-active. From a long time, the City of Mostar was in a very difficult situation while not having elections. LDA Mostar with its partners started “Elect Mostar” which contributed very much to the democratic processes in the city and led, later on, to some significant projects implemented in the city in co-operation with the Council of Europe.

Administrative level

Local (Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Year of implementation

2016-2020

Policy area(s)

- - Reestablishing democratic processes

Further details

This action was in line with the reestablishment of the democratic processes within the City of Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) which, for many years, did not had the City Council nor the local elections.

Local Democracy Agency Mostar

Civil society organisation

Contact info

Tipology of involvement in the initiative

Initiating (i.e., advocating for and starting the process)

Youth Council of the City of Mostar

Civil society organisation

Contact info

Tipology of involvement in the initiative

Participating with a direct involvement

Abrašević Mostar

Civil society organisation

Contact info

Tipology of involvement in the initiative

Participating with a direct involvement

OKC Abrasevic

Inputs/Incentives ideas for policy

City of Mostar

Local Authority

Contact Info

Tipology of involvement in the initiative

Indirectly impacted by the process

City of Mostar

Inputs/Incentive ideas for policy

Level of Participation

Consultation
Partnership

OKC Abrasevic

Consultation
Partnership

City of Mostar

Information

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By level of participation we refer to the type of involvement in the decision-making process. The levels are identified by the intensity of participation: going from “information” to “consultation” to ” dialogue” to “partnership”. Do you want to learn more – click here

Developed practice(s)

Step(s) of the political decision-making process at which the practice was implemented

Inputs/Incentive ideas for policy

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There are six different steps of the political decision-making process: agenda setting, drafting of policy, decision-making, implementation of policy, monitoring and reformulation of policy. Each step offer opportunities for CSOs and public authorities to interact. Do you want to learn more – click here

How the initiative was implemented

Situation

In 2016, City of Mostar was without City Council and the local elections for several years.

Activities performed

On the day of local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were organized in all local communities except the City of Mostar, LDA Mostar initiated the “Elect Mostar” ad hoc activity in collaboration with several local NGOs. The idea of the action was to draw the attention of the local, regional and international public, as well as domestic politicians, to the situation in which Mostar and its citizens found themselves. This action involved young volunteers in the creation of several fictitious “polling stations” at several locations in the City of Mostar, where citizens, through “ballots”, could express their views on the problems the City of Mostar was facing.

Tools and mechanisms applied

This was a no cost, ad hoc activity. Several tables, boxes and printed ”ballots” were used, with the willingness and enthusiasm of the volunteers.

Goals of the civil participation initiative

At community level

To regain basic human rights, the right of citizens to vote for their representatives and the right of citizens to be elected.

From Civil society organisation’s perspective

To re-establish democratic processes at the local level.

From Public Authority’s Perspective

At that time, the PA did not react at all at the action.

Results expected prior to the implementation

Prior to the implementation of the action, there were no particular expectations other than raise the awareness of the public and of political representatives on the fact that the citizens of Mostar were denied their basic human rights.

Immediate results achieved after implementation

The action was extremely covered by local and regional media and noticed by the international community and foreign missions in BiH. The lack of reaction was evident when it came to political actors and leading political options in BiH.

Long-term impact

Over time, this initiative grew into a Coalition “Elect Mostar” and became a platform that spread the voice of disenfranchised citizens through its activities. From 2016 to 2020, “Elect Mostar” activities were recognized at the national and international level, especially by the Council of Europe, which resulted in a series of meetings with the Coalition. The Council of Europe decided to establish a Reflection Group for Mostar, and through the work of the Reflection Group, and based on a series of consultations with the Coalition, in 2021, began implementing the project “Building democratic participation in the City of Mostar”. Four years after the creation of the “Elect Mostar” initiative, the citizens of Mostar have finally regained their active and passive suffrage.

Practice lessons learnt (obstacles and solutions)

Agency (i.e., political conditions/power structures)	Obstacles	No political will for the solution
Agency (i.e., political conditions/power structures)	Solutions	Grass root activism and the need for change in this case proved to be a successful recipe despite the lack of a political will
Legislative	Obstacles	No local Elections, no City Council
Legislative	Solutions	The action was one of the crucial foundations for a solution that followed at the higher levels of government in cooperation with the international community
Administrative	Obstacles	/
Administrative	Solutions	/
Socio-cultural	Obstacles	/
Socio-cultural	Solutions	/
Economic	Obstacles	No budget for the action
Economic	Solutions	Volunteering for the higher cause
Human capital	Obstacles	Not enough human capital
Human capital	Solutions	Help from the volunteers
Other	Obstacles	/
Other	Solutions	/

Further information

Self-assessment

The self-assessment presents the opinion of the contributor about on what extent the following principles for Civil Participation have been reflected in the implementation of the initiative/practice/case-study, ranging from 1 (min) to 4 (max) (N/A: not applicable, do not know)

Openness	4
Explanation	LDA Mostar, since its establishment, intends to develop its activities in line with the needs of the community. In this regard, it is fundamental for the work of the organization to be transparent and open to all, either citizens or local authorities. By constantly listening to the needs of the local community and working in partnership with citizens and local authorities, the organisation aims at achieving benefits and improvements. In the case of “Elect Mostar”, as an ad hoc action, all the interested citizens of Mostar were invited to participate, the results of the action were transparently shared. Local authorities as well had the opportunity to participate.
Trust	4
Explanation	The fact that many citizens responded to the action and voluntarily expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation in their city at that time, shows the presence of trust, as a result of many years of work in and for the community.
Independence	4
Explanation	LDA Mostar, as the action initiator, as well as the NGOs participating in the action, are organizations well known for their transparency and independence, from direct control of any governmental bodies or political structures. The action “Elect Mostar” was free from such implications or any political interventions.
Participation	3
Explanation	Members of LDA Mostar were many times a part of working groups within institutional bodies, creating, in cooperation with local authorities, several strategies and documents essential for the functioning of the city. The City of Mostar is also LDA Mostar’s ”Host partner”, in this sense, there is a constant and good cooperation with city administration. Since the local elections were suspended for years and the local authorities were non-existent, it was a challenge to find ways to communicate and implement certain activities. In case of Elect Mostar, the goal was to activate the whole population, all the citizens since the aim was to restore the democratic processes within the city. Everyone was invited to take a part, but in this case, political instalments (local authorities were nonexistent) had not much interest to participate.
Transparency	4
Explanation	“Elect Mostar” activity was announced to the public in timely manner. It was opened to everyone, and the results were shared publicly. Local and regional media covered the action.
Accessibility	4
Explanation	All the information during and after the action, as well the results, were distributed online and to the local and regional media.
Non-discrimination	3
Explanation	As stated before, since the goal was to mobilize all the citizens, and since it was an ad hoc, no-cost action, there was not sufficient time nor capacities to sufficiently activate all groups and subgroups of citizens. Nevertheless, citizens of all ages and genders responded to the action.
Inclusiveness	3
Explanation	Citizens in general were the target group in this particular action.
Accountability	4
Explanation	The “Elect Mostar” action started from the ad hoc activity and gradually outgrew its original intention. Over time, this initiative grew into a Coalition “Elect Mostar” and became a platform that spread the voice of disenfranchised citizens through its activities. From 2016 to 2020, “Elect Mostar” activities were recognized at the national and international level, especially by the Council of Europe, which resulted in a series of meetings with the representatives of the CoE. The Council of Europe decided to establish a Reflection Group for Mostar, and through the work of the Reflection Group, and based on a series of consultations with the Coalition, in 2021, began implementing the project “Building democratic participation in the City of Mostar”. Four years after the creation of our initiative “Elect Mostar”, the citizens of Mostar have finally regained their active and passive suffrage.

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