Online platform for checking the integrity of politicians and parties presented ahead of the 2026 elections.

Three domestic non-governmental organizations dedicated to the rule of law, transparency and the fight against corruption have presented a unique joint platform odgovorno.st, which will provide citizens with comprehensive data on the integrity and activities of politicians in one place ahead of the next general elections and help them make informed decisions.

Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BIH), the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) and the Citizens’ Association “Zašto ne” have launched a new online platform that assesses and visually presents the level of responsibility, transparency, and consistency demonstrated by institutions, political parties and public officials in implementing reforms and fighting corruption.

During the presentation of this online platform, it was said that the goal of the platform is to increase transparency, accountability and integrity in the public sector, and to provide citizens with verified and easily accessible information on how institutions spend public funds, how political parties fulfill their promises and how truthful and consistent public officials are.

Transparency International in BiH has pooled its experience from many years of work in the fight against corruption on this platform, which monitors, among other things, how public funds are misused for the benefit of candidates and political parties and how amendments to the Election Law are working.

Srđan Traljić from Transparency says that the data they have collected shows that political parties concealed at least 2.6 million marks of expenses in the last campaign. “They reported so much less than our estimate of the campaign costs and it is evident that they did not have legal sources of financing to cover it. This suggests that many parties are financed through undeclared channels,” he said. He adds that parties are largely misusing public resources. This problem should have been resolved by the latest amendments to the Election Law of BiH.

“But with this interpretation of the Central Election Commission of BiH, these changes are completely meaningless and we have had very few penalties for misuse of resources despite the large number of reports of documented examples of distributing public money before the elections and running campaigns with public funds. Until this practice of institutions changes, the pattern of behavior of parties in the campaign will not change,” said Traljić.

BIRN BiH, through monitoring the work of public office holders, follows their participation in launching anti-corruption initiatives for a real overview of the commitment of individuals and their parties to the fight against corruption, said Azra Husarić Omerović, a BIRN BiH journalist during the presentation of the platform.

“Each individual public official’s card contains data on their participation and work, both through voting in parliaments, and through the position they hold, and through plans and implementation of laws or action plans to fight corruption,” said Husarić Omerović.

The data on the platform is complemented by an overview of the Why Not organization on the fulfillment of political parties’ pre-election promises, along with assessments of the accuracy of politicians’ statements and other information on their transparency and commitment to the fight against corruption. In this way, for the first time, detailed data from various areas and related to the profiles of politicians and their parties will be available in one place, which will help citizens to access verified information more easily and quickly.

“Monitoring the fulfillment of politicians’ public promises, especially those related to the fight against corruption and integrity measures, is the best indicator of political commitment to a more democratic and healthy society,” believes Darko Brkan, director of the Why Not organization, adding that the platform offers an overview of promises on the fight against corruption and their fulfillment.

In addition to monitoring the engagement of anti-corruption initiatives, namely decisions to fight corruption through the work of state and entity ministries and the work of parliaments and assemblies, BIRN BiH will continue to monitor election campaigns. This includes tracking hate speech, discrimination, and the denial of war crimes—ensuring that individual politician profiles on the platform are regularly updated with verified information.

“The profiles will provide citizens with a fact-based overview of candidates’ records, helping them make informed voting decisions and forming a clearer picture of each politician’s real commitment during past mandates,” said Husarić Omerović. “This type of transparency can reduce the impact of empty political promises during the pre-election period

The platform is available at the link odgovorno.st