The monitoring of pre-election activities of political entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted by Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) already shows that numerous candidates and parties are ready for increasingly open misuse of public resources and political promotion.
Field observers engaged by TI BiH for monitoring purposes have recorded numerous examples of blatant misuse, such as the promotion of postage stamps organized by “Pošte Srpske” on the private estate of NSRS Vice President Milan Petković, who is also a candidate for “United Srpska” for the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The promotion was attended by his party colleague and director of this company, Miladin Radović, who is also a candidate in the upcoming elections, and the event was promoted through the public broadcaster RTRS and the official profiles of the party on social networks.
A similar occurrence of questionable actions by political entities is represented by Radislav Jovičić’s visit to the traditional lilijada during which he gave gifts to children, promoting his candidacy for President of the Republic of Srpska on behalf of the DNS party.
In addition to the misuse of public resources for personal and party promotion, parties have also started with paid promotion and advertising, although the Election Law explicitly prohibits this from the announcement of elections until the official start of the election campaign (30 days before the elections). TI BiH has therefore filed complaints with the Central Election Commission against 13 political entities and candidates for premature campaigning, mostly paid advertising on social networks.
TI BiH also monitored irregularities related to the publication of voter lists after which it was found that 6 local communities did not publish voter lists in the prescribed manner, while in another six municipalities and cities it was noted that deceased persons were on the voter lists, all of which was reported to the CEC.
During the monitoring so far, a large number of infrastructure projects have been observed that are being implemented or contracted immediately before or during the pre-election period. In total, during the monitoring period, 175 cases of intensification of public works were observed, with a value exceeding 200 million KM, of which almost half relate to works planned to be completed before the elections, which officials often use as an opportunity for personal or party promotion.
Since July 1st of this year, when the monitoring of pre-election activities began, TI BiH has followed 101 public events organized by institutions and government bodies, and recorded 343 occurrences that can be interpreted as some form of misuse of public resources for political promotion.
This pre-election cycle is distinguished by the frequency of distribution of various incentives, subsidies, and money to citizens and potential voters, with total allocations to various categories of the population during the observed period exceeding 212 million KM. There is also a noticeable trend of increasing salaries and earnings of public sector employees immediately before the elections, which is present at all levels of government in BiH.
TI BiH reminds that public funds and institutions are not the property of political parties, and no one has the right to misuse them in this way, but the shortcomings and ambiguities of existing laws and the inaction of competent institutions still allow this.
The monitoring of the pre-election process lasts from July 1st until election day, and in addition to field observers who monitor the activities of political entities in more than 80 local communities across BiH, citizens can also send reports via the mobile application “Reflektor: Izbori 22” developed by TI BiH for quick, easy, and anonymous reporting of all irregularities during the election process for the General Elections 2022.
The application is adapted for all Android and Apple smart devices and is available on the website reflektor.ba
