SPAI RSLO and IFES (International Foundation for Election Systems) co-organized in Sarajevo, a joint training including a study visit of Macedonian prosecutors and representative of the Electoral Commission to their counterparts from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event brought together up to 40 investigators, prosecutors and experts in electoral systems from Bosnia Herzegovina and Macedonia as well as US experts in electoral fraud related areas (one public prosecutor and one FBI agent); The main topic of the activity was „Sharing best practices in identifying and prosecuting high level corruption and fraud cases identified in connection with the electoral campaigns".

The topic covered in the training is strictly related to the forthcoming elections that are to be organized in both countries.

The training offered a combined approach: general presentation from the trainers and case studies solved by three working groups involving investigators, prosecutors and experts from the electoral commissions.

The following areas if reform and immediate action were identified by the participants:

• Establishing teams of investigators, prosecutors and representatives of the electoral commissions to jointly work and monitor possible illegal activities before, during and after closing of the election process;
• From all levels and jurisdictions of the prosecutor's office a responsible person should be designated in charge with the monitoring of the electoral process;
• Specialized training should be provided for the above mentioned teams - focus on comparative analyze of previous irregularities in order to prevent/preempt future errors; operative actions, methods and techniques.
• Appointment of on duty officers in relevant locations should be encouraged. This should also include the establishment of hot lines to connect the on spot teams with the electoral commission; hot lines available for the public; On duty judges should be also be appointed in order to issue emergency court orders;
• Allocation of relevant logistical support.
• To monitor the pre-electoral activities, reports of the electoral commission and audits conducted by the competent bodies, press releases etc. in order to collect relevant information about possible vulnerable areas to electoral fraud;
• Development by the police of plans for internal activities in line with their competences - in order to avoid overlapping with the activities conducted by the electoral commission.

The trainers also recommended to focus on the following areas:

• Creation of a formal relation with the Electoral Commission;
• Making the best use of the existing Association of Prosecutors in order to provide mutual assistance and resource allocation;
• Active involvement in the process of drafting the amendments to the current legislation - the role of the association of prosecutors in this area is crucial;
• Investigators and prosecutors should work together in electoral fraud cases.

If the legal system allows it focus the prosecutor's offices should prioritize their cases and focus on those ones with impact. *this recommendation can not be implemented as BiH and Macedonian legal systems do not provide the prosecutors with discretionary powers in initiating and conducting investigations.