TI BiH has Appealed to the Constitutional Commission to Reject Amendments to the Law on Financing Political Parties

Banja Luka 01 June 2012 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) has appealed to the Constitutional Commission of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly to reject the amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Parties, considering the fact that by making changes to the Law in parliamentary procedure the rules for drafting legislation have been violated.

TI BiH has already warned that the Interdepartmental Working Group for amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Parties has violated the Uniform Rules for Legislative Drafting in the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which dictate that the amendments to legislation should not exceed half of the content of the Act. Namely, in the case of the Law on Financing Political Parties 16 out of 29 Acts of the currently applicable law has been amended, accounting for 60% of the content. In this way, the members of the Interdepartmental Working Group have not only circumvented the rules and procedures, they have also acted contrary to the mandate entrusted by the Parliamentary Assembly.

It should be remarked that the proposed amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Parties, which include raising the limit on donations to parties and legalization of certain revenue sources that have so far been restricted, while at the same time the recommendations of international institutions to increase transparency and control over the use of funds have not been followed, strive to enable the  additional benefit to political parties as well as influence of the donor on the parties’ activities.

Therefore, the TI BiH hopes that the Constitutional Committee will recognize clear violation of the procedures as well as the adversity of the proposed solutions, and during amendment review process (4^th July 2012.) will reject the amendments to the Law on Financing Political Parties. Otherwise, it will leave the possibility for abusing similar procedures in the future, which may result in a complete collapse of the legal framework.