The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) fined 51 political parties for serious violations of the Law on Financing. It was determined that in 2019, only 11 out of one hundred controlled political parties complied with the law. The money received from the budget has not been used for what it is intended for years. Large donations from private companies are hidden, and donors are in turn awarded lucrative jobs.
The PDP received the largest fine – 27.000 BAM. It is followed by the Socialist Party and the Party for BiH with 20.000 BAM, SDP with 15.000 and SDA, Ujedinjena Srpska, and SDS with about 10.000 BAM. Several other parties, including SNSD and HDZ BiH, received slightly smaller fines. The money they received through budgets at all levels, membership fees, and donations were used outside the law. The CEC boasted that they have one hundred percent collection because, after appeals, the Court of BiH rules in their favor.
Zeljko Bakalar, member of the CEC of BiH said:
“All our decisions have been confirmed and with certain implementing acts we can say with certainty that the previous cycle of sanctions was successfully collected and that all these sanctions go to the single account of the Treasury of BiH.”
The fines imposed, although recently toughened by the CEC, are significantly lower than the financial benefits of the parties. The strike on party wallets has led to a new problem – they are less and less likely to show donations from private companies in their reports.
Ivana Korajlic, “Transparency International BiH” said:
“On the other hand, through donations from individuals we very often have things that cannot even be determined as a misdemeanor, and that is that a large list of individual donors is put up for which you can immediately assess that they could not have given that much money and that you even have a situation where people say “I did not give money for the party, and I am on that list”.”
In 2021, 10 of the 15 largest parties in BiH did not show a single BAM (mark) in donations from private companies. SDA, SNSD, HDZ BiH, SDP, and DF showed only small donations. That there is a lot of money for the campaign is proved by the fact that as much as one million and a half BAM more was spent on propaganda in the last local elections than shown.
All this is made possible by ‘black funds’. Parties can still receive funds even in cash – all by law.
Vehid Sehic, Coalition “Pod lupom” (Under the Magnifying Glass) said:
“There are black funds that are not shown in financial business and it is a public secret. How they get that money is another question and it should involve other institutions that control the financial operations of both state-owned enterprises and other businesses in BiH.”
In addition to donations and membership fees, parties are funded from the budget at all levels. From 2004 to the end of last year, a staggering 335 million BAM were poured into the accounts of parliamentary parties. Last year, almost 19 million BAM of public money went to them. We should not forget that the parties also draw funds by withdrawing money from public companies, which are a favorite prey after the elections, through intermediaries, and through the award of contracts. The new Law on the Financing of Political Parties is one of the 14 priorities for candidate status for the European Union (EU), BHRT writes.
E.Dz.
