BS
The “Pod Lupom” Coalition reported SNSD for a possible violation of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The complaint was prompted by a post on the official SNSD Banja Luka Facebook page. The post contained a video showing the paving of one of the streets in the suburban settlement of Šargovac in Banja Luka. Srđan Amidžić, Secretary-General of SNSD, was also present at the event and addressed the local residents:
“It is unfortunate that we cannot take over and complete all the suburban settlements, because we cannot reach an agreement with the city administration. They say there is no money, yet they build 15 kilometres of a promenade along the Vrbas. And do you know what 15 kilometres of a promenade along the Vrbas means? It means bringing in stone, filling in the Vrbas, installing reinforcement, pouring concrete, and then laying asphalt over the concrete. These are things that we believe are not good, and these are things that we would like to change. Simply put, suburban residents and villages have been forgotten by the city centre. You know that, and someone has the right to make such decisions because they believe it is the smarter approach. We do not believe it is the smarter approach.”
In a second video, accompanied by the description: “We are pleased to see how much it means to our fellow citizens when we work together. This is best seen in Cvijetna Street in the Šargovac settlement. We recognized the needs of the residents of this part of Banja Luka, agreed with them on the project and solved the problem. We are moving forward, together and even stronger!”, Goran Maričić, President of the SNSD Banja Luka Municipal Board, also addressed the residents. Among other things, he said:
“The most important thing for you to understand is that we are willing to go out into the field, listen to you, take some of your requests into consideration, and ensure that the whole of Banja Luka develops evenly, in accordance with the resources available to us (…).”
Since the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina defines premature campaigning as “any form of campaign activity undertaken by political entities in the period from the calling of elections until the official start of the election campaign,” the “Pod Lupom” Coalition reported the event and the statements by SNSD officials as premature election campaigning.
The Central Election Commission requested statements from SNSD, Srđan Amidžić and Goran Maričić. Among other things, SNSD responded that the complaint was unfounded because, in its view, none of the statements referred to activities that constituted election-related actions capable of influencing voters.
Goran Maričić, SNSD’s candidate for the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, stated in his response that he had merely pointed out the city’s responsibilities, which he did not consider criticism of the authorities. He also argued that taking citizens’ priorities into account “(…) does not constitute undertaking election campaign activities.”
Srđan Amidžić, SNSD’s lead candidate for the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina in one of the electoral constituencies, provided a similar response. He argued that, in this particular case, there was no advocacy concerning political goals or ideas, nor any promotion of the party’s political programme, “but merely a statement that has no influence on the public, because the public is already aware of it.”
The CIK did not accept these explanations and imposed fines on both the party and its officials. The party was fined 7,500 KM, while Amidžić and Maričić were each fined 3,000 KM.
In its reasoning, the CIK cited Goran Maričić’s statement, “we do not have the city government, we do not have the 300 million KM budget that the mayor has,” which the CIK considered to demonstrate that the political party and its candidate had clearly positioned themselves in relation to the current authorities.
Referring to other similar statements, the CIK concluded:
“(…) in this way, the statement in question simultaneously contains criticism of political opponents, that is, the existing city government, as well as a presentation of the political entity’s own approach and its manner of future action. Such an address, particularly when made by a candidate of a political party through that political entity’s Facebook page, has the character of political presentation and promotion (…).”
As an aggravating circumstance, the Central Election Commission took into account the fact that prior to this fine, imposed at its session on August 27, SNSD had already been fined 10 times for premature election campaigning.
