BS
In mid-September, the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections “Pod lupom” reported the Coalition Narod i Pravda, SDPBiH, SPUBiH and candidate Nadira Zahirović for the misuse of children for political purposes.
On September 13, a reel/campaign video of Dr. Nadira Zahirović, a candidate for the FBiH Parliament, showing children was published on the official Facebook profile of the NiP Zenica party.
The applicant considers that children have neither the legal nor the actual capacity to understand the political context, the content of the election campaign, or the consequences of public exposure for political promotion. Their presence and depiction necessarily amount to the exploitation of their person to reinforce the party’s political message. Any form of involving children in political promotion is an unacceptable exploitation of minors punishable under the Election Law of BiH.
Accordingly, the applicant considers that there has been a violation of Article 7.3 (8) of the Election Law of BiH, which stipulates that it is prohibited to misuse a child for political purposes, defined under Article 1.1a (31) of the Election Law of BiH as: “Misuse of children for political purposes is the involvement of a child in activities that may be associated with political advocacy or promotion.”
Upon reviewing the complete case file and available evidence, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina determined that the political entity Narod i Pravda, SDBiH, SPUBiH and their candidate in the 2026 General Elections, Nadira Zahirović, are responsible because Nadira Zahirović misused children for political purposes in her promotional video via the Facebook page of the City Board of Narod i Pravda Zenica. They thereby violated the rules of conduct during the election period under Article 7.3 paragraph (1) point 8) of the Election Law of BiH.
The Central Election Commission imposed a fine of 4,500 KM on the Coalition Narod i Pravda, SDPBiH, SPUBiH and a fine of 3,500 KM on candidate Nadira Zahirović.
