The Central Election Commission of BiH published the annual financial reports of parties in BiH for 2022, which, among other things, contains information that SNSD received a non-monetary donation or gift worth 9.5 thousand convertible marks from Svetlana Ražnatović during the election campaign, and a similar service, i.e., a performance worth 9 thousand marks, was “gifted” to SNSD by Aleksandar Vuksanović, known as Aca Lukas.
The arrival of Svetlana Ceca Ražnatović to SNSD’s final rally in Banja Luka cost 9.5 thousand marks, which is an unrealistic amount given that the Olympic Center Jahorina paid 78,000 KM for her appearance in 2018, and the suspicious nature of this practice is indicated by this party’s financial report in which this performance during the election campaign is recorded as a gift.
Both of these performances were listed by this party in its financial report as a type of non-monetary donation that it was not obligated to pay, amounting to 18,500 KM. These concerts without fee payment were held as part of SNSD’s final rally in Banja Luka within pre-election activities before the General Elections 2022, and TI BiH monitoring determined that this party reported campaign costs of at least half a million KM less than the estimated real costs.
SNSD reported after the elections that they spent a total of 1.54 million KM on the campaign, although an assessment prepared by TI BiH based on field monitoring showed that this party spent at least 2 million KM on billboards, media advertisements, Facebook, and pre-election rallies alone.
SNSD, in previous years as well, according to CEC auditor findings, had no evidence of paying for Ceca Ražnatović’s services at their rallies, and in the last elections, other entertainment stars also performed at this party’s rallies. TI BiH observers followed 99 major SNSD rallies whose value, including food, drinks, music, venue rental, equipment and tent rental services, amounted to, according to TI BiH estimates, at least 850,000 KM.
The actual campaign costs of SNSD as well as the income this party generates are much higher, and according to the latest report, their revenues amount to 3 million KM, which does not show a single mark in donations from private companies, but also over 44 thousand marks that this party received as a gift or service.
The Law on Financing Political Parties stipulates that political parties are obligated to keep records of their income and expenses and submit a financial report to the CEC for each calendar year; however, parties have been reporting income and expenses that are significantly lower than real ones for years, as shown by election campaign spending data published by TI BiH.
Field research and assessments by Transparency International BiH indicate that parties report unrealistically low costs for campaigns and their operations in their post-election and annual reports, and that various forms of media promotion and organization of political rallies and meetings are most commonly used for this purpose, whose real costs are subject to manipulation.
Due to all the above, TI BiH advocates for improvement of the Law on Financing Political Parties to enhance transparency and introduce greater control, as there is substantial evidence that political party bills are ultimately paid with public money.
