Abuse of public resources for the purpose of conducting election campaigns, as well as public functions, refers to abuses in the consumption of the public money and abuses of material and human resources of institutions, agencies, public companies and extra-budgetary funds by political subjects. Most often, these abuses come from those who are running for elections but coming from a position of power.
Examples of misuse of public resources:
- Increase of pensions or salaries in the public sector in the election year;
- Use of official vehicles for events of political parties or pre-election rallies;
- Abuse of positions and public officials in the campaign of political subjects;
- Pressures on workers on their working places and threats that they will be dismissed, usually in the public sector, where one must promise that he/she will “provide” a certain number of votes;
- New employment in the public sector;
- Excessive spending on public works in the election year and ceremonies pertaining to the closure of works;
- Use of public media services for purposes of propaganda.
In July 2022, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (OHR), using the powers at his disposal, issued a Decision adopting the Law on Amendments and Addenda to the BiH Election Law, which introduced the term “public funds and resources”. As amended, abuse of “public funds and resources” means any illegal use of funds and resources of the State of BiH, entities, cantons, Brčko District of BiH and other units of local administration and self-government, by which candidates in elections and on the candidates’ lists, as public or state officials, or directly elected persons, have at their disposal for the purposes of performing their official duties. This includes all movable and fixed assets, as well as all human resources of public institutions that are used during working hours. The Coalition is of the opinion that these changes are a step forward in the fight against this irregularity, but that it is necessary to monitor their effect, and possibly go in the direction of adopting even more restrictive provisions.
During 2022 General elections, observers of the Coalition “Pod lupom” reported on 384 cases of abuse of public resources in 67 municipalities/cities. Most of the reported cases relate to the intensification of works on local infrastructure, and frequent and intensified visits by officials from higher levels of government, who as a rule meet or visit those municipalities/cities headed by their party colleagues. The analysis of the received reports shows that the largest number of cases of abuse of public resources refer to political subjects SNSD (109), SDA (81), HDZ BiH (38), SDP BiH (36) and Party for BiH (18).
For these elections, various examples of introducing new rights to different categories and/or providing one-time forms of assistance to the population on different grounds were recorded: one-time financial assistance to pensioners, people with disabilities, civilian victims of war, beneficiaries of veteran’s benefits, distribution of packages of basic foodstuffs, assistance to young people, and all with implementation exclusively until October 2, the Election Day. The same or similar examples were recorded at the level of both entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The work of public officials and other employees in the public administration or public enterprises for the purpose of the campaign of any political subject can be considered as abuse of public resources, and the observers of the Coalition reported on 99 such cases in 40 municipalities/cities in BiH.
In its Final Report of the Election Observation Mission, referring to the legal changes from July 2022 that prohibit the misuse of public resources and public officials that are subordinated to the candidate, the misuse of public premises, communication and transport services for the purpose of campaigning and conducting campaigns by elected officials during activities organized by public institutions, ODIHR noted that, although these improvements are welcomed, the ban still applies only to the official one-month campaign period.
In addition, they state that ODIHR received credible information about pressures on employees in public sector so to participate in the pre-election events or not to be engaged in activities organized by opposition. In ODIHR they believe that this raises concerns about the ability of voters to vote fairly and in a free atmosphere without fear of revenge. In order to address the issue of pressure on voters by public officials and election participants, competent authorities should take fast and effective steps to investigate such allegations and any misuse of public resources and proactively work to stop such practices.
Through analyzing the effects of the application of provisions on the misuse of public resources for the 2022 election cycle, the Coalition “Pod lupom” believes it is necessary to consider further refinement and regulation in this field.
