COALITION UNDER SCRUTINY: DUE TO ABSENCE OR MINIMAL SANCTIONS, IT PAYS TO BREAK ELECTION RULES

SARAJEVO, AUGUST 15 (ONASA) – The “Under Scrutiny” coalition, which is carrying out the mission of civil, non-partisan observation of local elections in BiH, points out that the CEC of BiH narrowly interprets the provisions of the Election Law of BiH that refer to premature election campaigns and abuse of public funds and resources. and that they either do not impose sanctions for violation of election rules or impose minimal sanctions on political entities that are not of a deterrent nature, the Coalition “Under Scrutiny” announced.
Out of 393 reports to the CEC, sanctions were imposed in only 59 cases, ie only every seventh report results in a penalty.
The minimum possible sanction prescribed by law for political subjects is 3,000 BAM, and the average sanction imposed by the CEC in cases so far is 3,750 BAM.
Until now, there has been no sanction that is close to the maximum of 30,000 BAM for political entities and an additional 15,000 BAM for candidates.
This is particularly controversial in the case of those political subjects who are repeat offenders in violation of election rules.
Two thirds of all reports and as much as 80% of fines apply to 10 political parties that continuously violate election rules.
As part of the observation mission of the Coalition “Under Scrutiny”, a total of 273 election irregularities were recorded in the first three weeks of reporting by long-term observers. 102 cases refer to abuse of public funds and resources, 80 to premature election campaign, 36 to failures in the work of local election commissions, 21 cases to irregularities in the work of the media, 11 cases to pressure on voters and 23 cases to other election irregularities.
The largest number of irregularities refers to the following political entities: SNSD (42), SDA (24), SDP (18), SDS (17) and HDZ BiH (12).
It is worrisome that for this election cycle the official campaign has gained full momentum, and the CEC does not currently sanction the official campaign.
This is very dangerous, because this practice of the Central Election Commission violates the principle of equality of all participants in the electoral process and gives priority to political entities and candidates who enter the election race from a position of power.
Based on the findings, the Coalition “Under Scrutiny” submitted 62 reports to the Central Election Commission related to the premature election campaign, abuse of public funds and resources, and trading of seats in electoral committees.
Based on reports from the “Under Scrutiny” Coalition, the CEC imposed sanctions in 11 cases in the amount of 41,800 BAM.
The “Under Scrutiny” coalition calls on the Central Election Commission to start sanctioning official campaigning and abuse of public funds and resources, and to impose maximum sanctions for multiple violators of election rules so that violations of election rules do not pay off for political subjects.
The “Under Scrutiny” Coalition also reminded that citizens can register as non-partisan election day observers until August 31, 2024, as well as report all election irregularities to the “Under Scrutiny” Coalition, via the free phone number 080 05 05 05 or through available online forms at www.podlupom.org. (end)