Political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported 11.3 million KM in election campaign expenses in their post-election financial reports, the largest amount ever reported to the Central Election Commission. However, Transparency International in BiH (TI BIH) data shows that eight parties reported unrealistically low campaign expenses, at least 1.5 million KM less than TI BIH estimated.
Given that TI BIH did not have data on advertising costs on portals and the YouTube platform, printing and distribution of promotional materials, as well as numerous other forms of advertising, parties should have reported much higher amounts because TI BIH’s monitoring included only four components.
Nevertheless, SNSD reported 1.54 million KM in total campaign expenses, although TI BIH estimated that this party spent at least 2 million KM on billboards, media ads, Facebook, and pre-election rallies. SNSD reported about 150,000 KM in pre-election rally expenses, which is unrealistic considering that at the party’s final rally in Banja Luka, Svetlana Ceca Ražnatović performed, and for comparison, the Olympic Center Jahorina paid 78,000 KM for her performance in 2018.
In previous years, SNSD did not have evidence of payment for her services according to CEC auditors, and this year other pop stars also performed at the party’s rallies. TI BIH observers attended 99 major SNSD rallies, whose value, including food, drinks, music, venue rental, equipment, and tent rental, amounted to at least 850,000 KM according to TI BIH estimates. The actual campaign expenses of SNSD significantly exceed the income reported by the party, which amounts to 1.8 million KM and does not include any donations from private companies.
SDA reported 1.5 million in campaign expenses, which is about 220,000 less than what was determined by TI BIH monitoring, and PDP and SDS reported significantly lower amounts than determined, especially in media advertising and pre-election rally organization.
United Srpska, DEMOS, and the Socialist Party did not report any expenses for pre-election rallies, although TI BIH observers attended over 70 rallies of these parties. US and SP also did not report any internet advertising expenses, although publicly available data shows they spent significant amounts on Facebook ads. DNS and HDZ 1990 also reported significantly lower expenses than observed.
Among other parties, SDP, NIP, SBB, Our Party, and HDZ BIH reported the highest campaign expenses in their reports, with amounts exceeding TI BIH’s estimates, considering that TI BIH’s monitoring covered only four segments of campaign expenses. However, when looking at individual items, it is evident that SDP reported lower media advertising expenses than estimated by the media monitoring agency hired by TI BIH.
The Party for BiH reported 427,000 KM in election campaign expenses, although just a few days before the elections, it denied TI BIH’s data that it spent around 420,000 and claimed that the amount was only 106,000 KM. In the end, it reported a figure that approximately matches TI BIH’s data, but interestingly, this number is significantly higher than the total income the party has, which amounts to about 299,000 KM. According to SBIH’s report, it has not yet paid the campaign expenses, as it showed debts of over 390,000 KM, most of which arose this year.
Numerous parties could not explain the sources of their campaign funding! Seven parties did not submit reports to the CEC, while 26 did not report any campaign expenses. It is significant to note that BHI Fuad Kasumović and Platform for Progress, which according to TI BIH’s estimate spent at least 43 and 32 thousand KM on billboards, Facebook ads, and pre-election rallies, did not submit reports.
Also, the People’s Party of Srpska NPS Darko Banjac, which became a parliamentary party after the elections, did not submit a financial report, so there is no explanation of the sources of funding for the campaign, which TI BIH estimated at 230,000 KM. It is important to note that the Successful Srpska movement, which ran in coalition with NPS, did not report any campaign expenses in its submitted report, although TI BIH observers recorded billboards for this movement worth about 24,000 KM.
Due to all the above, TI BIH advocates for the improvement of the Law on Financing Political Parties to enhance transparency and introduce greater control, as there is ample evidence that political parties’ bills are ultimately paid with public money. For these elections, the CEC changed the forms on which campaign expenses are reported, so parties for the first time separately reported internet advertising expenses.
Parties reported 933 thousand KM, and publicly available Facebook data shows that parties and candidates spent about 491,000 KM on political advertising on this platform alone. Since data for other platforms is not available, it is not possible to verify the accuracy of this data.
Additionally, the problem is that a large number of media houses did not provide RAK with the prices of political advertising, which are significantly higher than commercial ones, according to which the media monitoring agency for TI BIH estimated media advertising costs.
