News in English     | 17.09.2020. 14:15 |

TI BiH - Numerous examples of misuse of public resources for political promotion

FENA Muamer Selimbegovic

SARAJEVO, September 17 (FENA) - Numerous forms of misuse of public resources for political promotion have been noticed in the past month, and some political parties and candidates have already started paying for advertising, although this is explicitly prohibited by law outside the official election campaign.

This assessment is based on the first results of the monitoring conducted by Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) in 68 local communities in BiH ahead of the upcoming local elections.

The focus of monitoring, as TI BiH Executive Director Ivana Korajlić pointed out today at a press conference, is on the phenomena related to the misuse of public resources in the election campaign, including institutional, financial and human resources, i.e., buying the votes with public funds.

She assessed that in the months before the elections we registered an increase in public spending, causing visible financial damage to institutions and budgets.

Korajlić warns that we still have a phenomenon in BiH where politicians make no distinction between public and political party functions, which is a segment that, unfortunately, is not regulated by law.

At the same time, she emphasizes that the misuse of public resources in the campaign has become even more transparent, to the point of absurdity that two different political parties are bragging about the same infrastructure project, without the project being de facto implemented.

Korajlić states that promotional billboards are present throughout BiH, and that TI BiH has already submitted about 20 complaints to the Central Election Commission of BiH, related to political advertising.

She announced that a mobile application will be launched in the next few days, which will enable citizens to report any irregularities in the pre-election period, including pressure on voters, buying of votes, threats to voters, etc. 

Concrete monitoring findings with examples of violations of election rules and abuses were presented by TI BiH spokesman Srđan Traljić, stating that in the past month, 70 TI BiH observers monitored 263 public events organized by public institutions and companies, of which 62 related to grand openings of infrastructure facilities.

"About 70 percent of public events were used to promote candidates for the upcoming local elections in BiH," Traljić noted, stating that messages against political opponents were presented at 11 events, while election campaign promises were made in 78 speeches. At 25 public events, political party insignia was present.

In that context, he reminded of the example of the opening of construction works on the water supply network "Water for 12,000 inhabitants" in Visoko, where protective masks with the features of the Independent List were distributed to those present at the event.

He illustrated the assessments with the example of the "We build Banja Luka" campaign, where campaign promises are given through videos, billboards and 3D presentations and personal promotion of the current mayor of Banja Luka (SNSD), who is again a candidate for that position.

TI BiH requested the City of Banja Luka to provide information on how much this campaign cost, but it has not yet received any answers. 

There were also 17 examples of mass employment of workers in public institutions and enterprises.

TI BiH observers also recorded 50 cases of distribution of various types of subsidies and assistance from local budgets in this period.

The example of Bileća is obvious in that respect, where the RS Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management organized the distribution of heifers in front of a dairy whose owner is a candidate for mayor of that municipality.

TI BiH data also show that the office of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in Zvornik distributed forms for the allocation of funds from the competent FBiH ministry, which co-finances the transportation of students.

In addition to promotional billboards outside the election campaign, TI BiH highlights the example of the HDZ billboard set up in the yard of the elementary school in Busovača, which is why the CEC was notified, as was the Ombudsman office, as well as in other cases of using children and minors to promote candidates in the upcoming elections.

The results of the monitoring also show that in 14 cases it was recorded that free medical examinations, medicines and other types of public services were provided, directly used to promote candidates in the elections.

In the mentioned period, 128 examples of intensifying public works were recorded, which primarily refers to the beginning of the construction of various infrastructure facilities.

TI BiH implements the mentioned activities within the project "Support to Citizens in the Fight against Corruption", in cooperation with partner organizations - Centers for Civic Initiatives (CCI) and the Center for Media Development and Analysis (CRMA), with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

(FENA) S. R.

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