“TI BiH: The Central Election Commission (CEC) does not penalize the misuse of public resources, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) refuses to provide an authentic interpretation of the Election Law.”

Sarajevo, September 5, 2024 – In the past two months, Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) has submitted 90 reports related to violations of election legislation. So far, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has imposed 14 sanctions based on TI BiH’s reports, totaling BAM 59,500 , mostly concerning premature campaigning, while sanctions for the misuse of public resources are still lacking. During the two-month pre-election period, through one-time payments to pensioners and other categories, typically of BAM 50, 100, or 200, all levels of government distributed around 53 million BAM, according to TI BiH data.

Despite the fact that the law has, for the first time, prohibited the indirect buying of votes through this type of one-time assistance to citizens, no one has yet been sanctioned under this provision. Only regular budget subsidies are exempt from this ban, but CEC has taken the position that all subsidies are considered regular if ‘paid from budgeted items,’ making it unlikely anyone will be sanctioned if this practice continues.

Since the announcement of the elections, the CEC has received a total of 70 reports from TI BiH and other entities regarding the misuse of public resources, many of which remain unresolved, and only two sanctions have been imposed, both for the misuse of communication resources. Because of this, TI BiH requested an authentic interpretation from the Office of the High Representative (OHR) back in July, which responded by stating that the interpretation of the law falls under the jurisdiction of the CEC.”

“Although we do not believe that the institute of authentic interpretation should be used in democratic systems, we remind that the amendments to the Election Law were imposed and not adopted through democratic processes and public discussions. Therefore, the OHR should show a minimum level of responsibility to ensure their adequate interpretation and application. Otherwise, it opens the door to inappropriate influences on the application of the law and arbitrary interpretations of these provisions, which significantly undermines their purpose and effectiveness,” stated Ivana Korajlić, Executive Director of TI BiH.

TI BiH has already pointed out numerous examples of one-time payments before elections, with the most recent examples including one-time assistance of BAM 100 to pensioners in Tuzla Canton and Bratunac, aid to students in Foča, Ljubuški and Ugljevik, as well as the distribution of ‘friendship cards’ for pensioners and free land plots for young people by the Mayor of Banja Luka. It should also be noted that the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) has announced a budget rebalancing during the election campaign and one-time assistance of BAM 100 and 200 to all pensioners, which was also done before the General Elections in 2022.

TI BiH has also published an interactive map identifying 593 examples of pre-election activities that started or were opened in the past two months, with a total value of 569 million BAM. The CEC has so far imposed sanctions on parties that boasted about pre-election works in the context of premature campaigning, while TI BiH is still awaiting decisions on a complaint against the state minister Sevlid Hurtić, who conducted an election campaign and took photos of public works financed at the local level in Doboj. Additionally, the CEC has been notified of a case involving the paving of local roads using funds from Forestry Romanija Sokolac, as these public works are being used for direct election campaigning by the company’s director, Strahinja Bašević, who is a candidate for mayor.

The practice of incumbency campaigning has continued, with TI BiH observers monitoring 350 events organized by public institutions over the past two months. At more than 75% events, election candidates were present, and 14% of the events featured political messages, which, according to the law, is also considered misuse of public resources. Decisions are still pending on complaints against the representative in the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska (NSRS) and the SNSD list leader in Banja Luka, Vlado Đajić, who sent out pre-election messages at several public events. This candidate, as in the previous election cycles, has begun premature campaigning through billboards offering free medical check-ups to pensioners.

There have also been recorded cases of pre-election promotion, including the mayor of Vukosavlje at the ‘Gastro Fest’ in this municipality, the mayor of Ustikolina at a concert marking the municipality’s day, and the mayor of Gornji Vakuf and a minister from the Government of the Central Bosnia Canton (SBK) through the placement of posters at a football tournament.

There have been 41 documented cases of the misuse of children for political purposes, with 21 cases on the first day of school alone, where officials misused primary school students for their own promotion and election campaigning. Additionally, there have been 72 cases of increased hiring before the elections, 101 examples of premature campaigning, and 67 cases of providing special benefits in the form of free medical check-ups or other public services during the pre-election period.

There are also 14 examples of paid advertising by institutions promoting candidates, as well as the use of communication resources for election campaigning, which is prohibited by law. Notable examples include the mayors of Gradiška and Konjic, who use videos and other forms of campaigning to promote the achievements of their current city administrations.

TI BiH has long highlighted the problem of electoral conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the unpunished misuse of public resources gives a significant advantage to incumbent candidates. The recent amendments imposed by the High Representative have only partially sanctioned these abuses, but due to the lack of interpretation and narrow application, these provisions have not yet produced the expected results.

One positive aspect to mention is the increased interest of citizens in the electoral process. TI BiH has received 878 citizen reports through the Reflektor app regarding attempts to establish political control over election boards, premature campaigning, and misuse of public funds.