TI BiH presents monitoring results: Over 1,400 cases of misuse of public resources for the election campaign recorded in two months

At the press conference, TI BiH presented the mobile application Reflektor, which will now enable citizens to anonymously report all forms of election irregularities.

Sarajevo 10/13/2020 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) presented the results of a two-month monitoring of pre-election activities in 68 local communities in BiH. TI BiH observers recorded numerous cases of violations of the Election Law, and 69 reports were sent to the Central Election Commission, mostly related to banned advertising outside the election campaign, but also other cases of misuse of public resources for election promotion. According to the reports of TI BiH, the CEC has already punished 6 political entities, while the outcome of other proceedings is still pending.

There were also 16 examples of paid advertising of public companies and institutions that promote candidates in local elections, especially in Bijeljina, Visoko, Banja Luka and Banovici, where through public campaigns paid with budget money, direct promotion of current mayors and mayors was carried out. ran again in the local elections. Prior to the official start of the election campaign, 78 major party rallies were recorded, which were pre-election in nature. At one of them in Doboj, according to his own confession, the president of the SNSD distributed money to pensioners, students and young married couples, and the case was reported to the CEC for violating the election law.

TI BiH observers covered 572 public events, 127 of which related to the opening of infrastructure facilities, and as many as 65% of the events were addressed by candidates in local elections, which clearly shows their real purpose. At the opening of 950 meters of the road in Banja Luka, an example was recorded where party activists carried posters with messages thanking SPS candidates and the current mayor, and a member of the BiH Presidency spoke on a public speaker about physical confrontations with opposition supporters. In 102 cases, the presence of officials was not within their competence, and pre-election promises were made at 152 events.

In addition, 74 TI BiH observers recorded another 1,431 examples where public resources were used to electorally promote parties and candidates and gain voter support. 547 cases of intensification of public works in the pre-election period were recorded, as well as 150 examples of distribution of special incentives and subsidies, which most often refer to one-time payments timed to the pre-election period.

The mayor of Ugljevik once distributed 100 KM to the children of demobilized fighters, and the mayor of Zenica paid 100,000 KM to the Association of Pensioners, claiming that the case has nothing to do with the elections and that the association will distribute aid to socially endangered pensioners.

In the past two months, there have been 62 cases of free examinations, medicines, travel and discounts on public services. The mayor of Bijeljina and the mayor of Novo Sarajevo organized a free trip for certain categories of the population and in Trebinje the city from the Agrarian Fund has established a special store for retirees where they can get a discount of up to 50%.

Due to the growing number of cases of election irregularities, TI BiH also presented a mobile application at a press conference A spotlight that will from now on enable all citizens to anonymously report cases of vote buying, pre-election employment, advertising in prohibited places, provision of public services in exchange for votes and all other forms of misuse of public funds in the election process.

The mentioned activities of TI BiH are implemented within the project “Support to Citizens in the Fight against Corruption” in cooperation with partner organizations Centers for Civil Initiatives (CCI) and the Center for Media Development and Analysis (CRMA). Financial support for the project was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Press rls – 13.10.2020.