BS
In early September, the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” reported Narodni Front for early campaigning. On August 25, a video recording of Jelena Trivić’s television appearance was published on her official Facebook page, in which she stated that “significant funds have been lost due to failed banks, affairs, and suspicious deals.” In the published video, Jelena Trivić also stated: “Imagine now all those affairs that took place in Republika Srpska, then 400 million lost in banks, in three failed banks… then this now that we had Viadukt, Serdarov… imagine if all those hundreds of millions… had been used for investments, for infrastructure construction, for the renovation of hospitals, schools…”, along with the claim that these are losses “knowingly caused by the current government.” The accompanying text of the post further concludes: “That is why we must drive away such bad policies.”
The Election Law of BiH defines an election campaign as “actions and procedures… during which a political entity, in a manner prescribed by law, acquaints voters and the public with its programs and candidates for the upcoming elections.”
The initiator considered that Article 7.1 of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina had been violated. Although the video was taken from a television appearance, by subsequently publishing it on the official Facebook page of the political entity, an additional attempt is made to create an impression among the public and voters that the entity is ready to undertake activities that others could not fulfill, thereby seeking to create a positive perception of the political entity among voters.
The Central Election Commission determined that this constituted premature campaigning, i.e., a violation of Article 7.1 of the Election Law of BiH. It decided to impose a financial sanction in the amount of 3,000 KM on Narodni Front, and a financial sanction in the amount of 3,000 KM on candidate Jelena Trivić. As a mitigating circumstance when imposing the fine, the CIK took into account the fact that the candidate and the political entity have not been previously penalized for premature campaigning.
