TI BiH: Massive misuse of public resources recorded before elections, CEC increasingly fails to penalize key violations

Sarajevo, August 6, 2026 – Misuse of public resources, premature campaigning, and spreading false information about electoral technologies are the most common violations documented by Transparency International in BiH during the first month of monitoring the electoral period. To date, 26 complaints have been submitted to the competent institutions for violations of multiple provisions of electoral legislation, but the Central Election Commission has changed its approach compared to previous electoral cycles and no longer penalizes the most frequent abuses.

The CEC refused from the outset to impose sanctions on parties that had not been certified to participate in the elections, even though most prohibitions apply from the date the elections were called, i.e., May 7 of this year. After certification, the CEC raised the tolerance threshold for premature campaigning, lowered the criteria in interpreting political messages, and further narrowed the understanding of misuse of public resources, which is why numerous cases went without sanctions.

TI BiH has documented over 1,200 cases that can be considered misuse of public resources for electoral campaigning, with 70% of them relating to the intensification of public works during the electoral period. The public spending counter before the elections published on Transparentno.ba shows that the value of works initiated in the past month amounts to 120 million BAM, while the start of construction of 173 infrastructure projects across BiH has been announced, with a stated value of 450 million BAM. The CEC previously penalized cases where parties promoted these works on social media, but for now such cases are passing without sanctions if the posts do not mention elections and campaigning, thereby opening space for parties to claim credit for projects financed with public funds.

The second most frequent abuse is the distribution of one-time budget payments to citizens before elections, which is clearly prohibited by the Election Law. TI BiH has documented that through 108 examples, over 45 million BAM has been distributed. The largest portion (31 million) relates to one-time assistance to pensioners in Republika Srpska of 80 and 120 BAM that will be paid before the elections, although the law clearly prohibits indirect vote-buying, which includes providing one-time assistance to citizens unless it is planned within regular budget subsidies. This involves money that was not even planned in the budget, but only in a recently adopted rebalance, and we have seen a similar scenario of vote-buying in previous electoral cycles.

One-time assistance to pensioners before elections is also being paid by the authorities of Brčko District, for which 1.4 million has been allocated, while the mayor of Novo Sarajevo Municipality, Benjamina Karić, promoted the payment of one-time payments to pensioners of 70 BAM as well as 1,000 BAM assistance to families with three or more children. The payment of 100 BAM to high school graduates in Bratunac was promoted on the party’s profile, and in a similar case where SNSD boasted about one-time payments before elections, the CEC did not impose a sanction, although even the members themselves interpreted these issues differently. TI BiH has also documented 33 cases of non-monetary payments to various categories of the population, which are also prohibited by the same provision of the law, most often involving free medical examinations, public transportation, etc. There have also been 23 recorded cases of salary increases and various social payments during this period.

Public events organized by institutions or financed with public funds are also being systematically misused. Of 33 public events monitored by TI BiH field observers, 70% were attended by election candidates, while political messages were sent at 32%, which is clearly prohibited by electoral law. However, as the CEC has narrowed its interpretation of political messages, numerous cases have gone without sanctions. Thus, the complaint against SNSD was rejected due to a gathering of the Pensioners’ Association at which Željka Cvijanović and Savo Minić sent pre-election messages that were interpreted as “jokes and observations.”

Although this party was penalized after a TI BiH complaint for Milorad Dodik’s speeches in which he spread false information about electoral technologies, most abuses are so far going without sanctions. Thus, Dodik freely uses institutional premises for his activities, the RS Government helicopter for field visits, speaks at institutional events, at the opening of public works where he promotes his policies, but he goes without sanctions because he holds no public office, and the CEC does not penalize the officials who enable this. Thus, the complaint was rejected regarding Dodik’s speech at the opening of an infrastructure project in Sokolac, because the CEC determined that the mere presence of the SNSD president at a public event is not a violation, especially since he “did not present these works as a project backed by a political entity.”

TI BiH has recorded 39 cases of premature campaigning, which mostly relates to paid advertising before the official start of the campaign and holding party gatherings during this period. However, due to the CEC’s new interpretation, this too is passing without sanctions, so complaints against SDA for a series of gatherings at schools in Travnik and PSS for dozens of billboards with the message “Be in Motion” were dismissed, where it was concluded that a call to join the party is not a form of campaigning. Likewise, a series of SNSD events in Banja Luka in various neighborhoods that had the characteristics of classic pre-election gatherings during the prohibited period were not sanctioned because voters in social media posts were not called to vote and programmatic goals were not presented.

In numerous cases, TI BiH complaints were not even considered at sessions, because the CEC did not initiate proceedings ex officio, which also indicates a change from previous practice. Despite this, TI BiH continues to monitor misuse of public resources and other forms of electoral law violations, aided by citizen reports received through the “Reflektor” application, which is designed for easy and anonymous reporting of electoral irregularities.

Press rls_06_08_2026

Additional:

• Media Kit TIBIH Election Monitoring 2026

Election monitoring on Transparentno.ba

• CEC raises tolerance threshold. No sanctions for party gathering at school, billboards before campaign, misuse of public resources
• Following TI BiH complaint: CEC fined SNSD 4,000 BAM for Dodik’s false claims about electoral technologies
• Prosecutor’s Office will not conduct investigation against Nešić for promising jobs in exchange for votes: Cannot confirm he is in the recording, although DNS admits he is
• CEC rejected complaint against Cvijanović and Minić without discussion: Speech about votes and announcements of pension increases are not “political messages,” but “observations and jokes”
• No penalties until certification: Parties freely conduct premature campaigning

Interactive election monitoring map:

• Elections 2026