The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina has suspended proceedings against the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), and the Safe Srpska Movement (PSS), despite complaints filed by Transparency International BiH alleging premature campaigning, misuse of public resources and the use of children for political purposes.
Transparency International BiH argues that the CEC’s decisions represent a significant departure from its previous practice, noting that political parties had been sanctioned more strictly for similar violations in past election cycles.
The CEC concluded that the reported activities did not constitute violations of the Election Law. It ruled that the SDA’s public forums in Travnik represented regular communication with citizens rather than premature campaigning. The Commission also unanimously dismissed proceedings against the SNSD over the opening of a children’s playground at a school attended by senior party officials.
In the case of the Safe Srpska Movement, the CEC found no grounds for sanctions, stating that the party had leased billboard advertising space before the official election period began.
Transparency International BiH strongly criticized the decisions, insisting it had submitted clear evidence, including photographs and video recordings.
“Members of the SDA municipal committee themselves admitted that these were public forums where they gathered citizens’ needs and information to prepare for the upcoming elections. If that is not a pre-election forum, I don’t know what is,” said Damjan Žegović of Transparency International BiH.
He also questioned the CEC’s decision regarding the Safe Srpska Movement’s billboard campaign inviting citizens to join the party, as well as the SNSD’s public gatherings promoting party officials across Republika Srpska.
CEC member Željko Bakalar was the only commissioner to oppose one of the decisions, arguing that the promotion of government-funded projects on party platforms constituted a misuse of public resources.
“I will vote against it. The announcement on the party platform that the Government of Republika Srpska will allocate 16 million BAM for free textbooks for 80,500 elementary school students is a misuse of public resources,” Bakalar said.
Former CEC member and Coalition “Pod lupom” (“Under Scrutiny”) representative Vehid Šehić said it was too early to draw final conclusions, adding that the coalition would conduct a comprehensive analysis of all complaints and CEC decisions to determine whether the same legal standards had been applied equally to all political parties.
Political analyst Ivana Marić warned that inconsistent enforcement of election rules creates legal uncertainty and weakens confidence in the electoral process.
“This is obviously something that should be sanctioned as premature campaigning, but we see that the CEC is not reacting. Such decisions are likely to encourage even more similar cases because there are no consequences,” Marić said.
Transparency International BiH has urged citizens to report suspected cases of premature campaigning, misuse of public resources and other election-related irregularities to the CEC or anonymously through the Reflektor application.
