SARAJEVO, August 7 (FENA) – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted last month 50 reports to the competent institutions due to irregularities in the pre-election period, which mostly relate to the abuse of public resources and premature campaigning, it was said at the press conference in Sarajevo, where the first periodic report on the monitoring of pre-election activities was presented, which was monitored by field observers of this organization throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Statistical indicators and examples of abuses observed during the first month of the pre-election period were presented, primarily in the domain of increasing public spending, intensifying public works and increasing one-time budget payments.
The representative of TIBiH Srđan Traljić said that in the mentioned period they observed 161 events financed by public institutions, and their goal was to identify the occurrences of official campaigning at these public events, which is prohibited by law.
He stated that as of today, 50 applications were submitted to the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to TIBiH applications, 11 sanctions in the amount of 43,000 KM have been imposed on parties and candidates so far, and they mostly relate to the premature campaign.
On the other hand, the timing and opening of public works before the elections and the distribution of one-time financial aid to citizens are still the dominant form of behavior of public officials in the pre-election period, stated the TIBiH.
This is also shown by the TIBiH data that all levels of government distributed more than 29 million KM to different categories of the population in the past month through one-time aid to citizens.
”We recorded about 350 examples of public works that were started or finished in the past month, the value of which is about 139 million KM,” said Traljić.
The Central Election Commission has imposed only two sanctions for the abuse of public resources, related to the illegal use of means of communication while according to the provision that prohibits the indirect buying of votes through one-time monetary or non-monetary aid to citizens, no one has been sanctioned, TIBiH states.
They point out that TIBiH has already pointed to numerous examples where the payment of one-time aid to social categories in Nevesinje and East Novo Sarajevo, the organization of free day trips for pensioners by the Sarajevo Mayor, and the distribution of cards for free transport to pensioners by the Banja Luka Mayor, are not considered abuse of public funds resources.
In addition, they say that the practice of official campaigns continued, and of the 161 events of public institutions or institutions monitored by TIBiH observers, more than 73 percent were attended by candidates in local elections, while political messages were presented at 16 percent of the events, which is prohibited by law.
TIBiH recorded 12 examples of paid advertising by institutions that promote candidates, as well as the use of means of communication for the election campaign. In addition, TIBiH recorded 21 examples of providing special benefits to citizens, mostly related to free public services, examinations, concerts, trips and the like.
TIBiH Executive Director Ivana Korajlić said that, regardless of the great expectations we all had from the changes to the Election Law of BiH that occurred in the previous period, especially in the part of regulating the rules of conduct not only for political entities and candidates but also for public office holders who have the funds, “we see that we still have a problem with the very way in which the new provisions are interpreted”.
