BS
The “Pod lupom” Coalition for Free and Fair Elections reported the Draško Stanivuković – Safe Srpska Movement Coalition at the beginning of August for premature election campaign activities.
On his personal Facebook profile, Draško Stanivuković posted a video about a visit to Zvornik, featuring promotional statements and the logo of a political entity. “And today I guarantee, in the name of the people who stand with me and I with them, that with victory and change in the Republika Srpska we will be the ones who will abolish the story of casinos/bookmakers being next to our children, next to kindergartens, next to schools, and that in a single day as soon as victory and changes happen. The same goes for VAT; there will be no VAT on medicines. Citizens must have affordable healthcare, medicines within their reach because that is health. I give my word and it shall be so,” he stated. High-ranking coalition officials Nebojša Drinić and Igor Radojičić, along with three female employees of the City Administration of the City of Banja Luka, also attended the event to advocate for collecting signatures for the initiative.
The Election Law of BiH defines a premature campaign as “any form of campaign activities undertaken by political entities in the period from the calling of elections until the official start of election campaigns.” Given the promises aimed at building a positive image and gaining voter trust before the official campaign began, the “Pod lupom” Coalition considered that the Draško Stanivuković – Safe Srpska Movement Coalition had violated election rules.
At the end of July, the Central Election Commission (CIK) was informed by Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina about the advocacy campaign for the “Health Without Tax” initiative carried out by the Safe Srpska Movement using public resources. Consequently, CIK requested a special statement from Draško Stanivuković, the Mayor of Banja Luka; a statement from the City Administration of the City of Banja Luka, whose employees participated in collecting signatures for the civil initiative; a statement from the Safe Srpska Movement; and statements from Nebojša Drinić, a PSS candidate for the National Assembly of the RS, and Igor Radojičić, a PSS candidate for the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.
The response of the Draško Stanivuković – Safe Srpska Movement Coalition stated that the activity was not connected to a political entity but represented an act of civic organization. Draško Stanivuković’s response stated that all measures were taken to separate the initiative in its organizational, administrative, and logistical aspects from political promotion and political action. The response from the City Administration of the City of Banja Luka stated that the female employees of this institution attended the petition signing briefly, during their break. Candidates Nebojša Drinić and Igor Radojičić claimed that the activity attracted the movement’s membership and sympathizers, and that they attended as citizens and councilors in the Banja Luka City Assembly.
CIK rejected the PSS’s appeal, concluding that the responsibility of the Draško Stanivuković – Safe Srpska Movement Coalition lay in the fact that the political entity and its candidates violated the Election Law of BiH by conducting a premature campaign and misusing public funds and resources. CIK imposed a fine of 7,000 BAM to be paid by PDP (3,500) and NPSP (3,500). The appeal of Draško Stanivuković, a PSS candidate for the RSNA, was also rejected, and he was fined 4,000 BAM for a premature campaign and misuse of public resources. The appeals of Nebojša Drinić and Igor Radojičić were likewise rejected, and they were fined 3,000 BAM each for the premature campaign.
“The fact that this is clearly an initiative intended to promote this political entity in terms of an election campaign and him as a candidate, and consequently the misuse of civil servants for the same purpose, is evidenced by the presence of Draško Stanivuković’s signature at the mentioned booths, which was used as part of the pre-election program and campaign for the 2024 Local Elections, as well as the fact that only high-ranking officials of this coalition, i.e., members of the coalition, meaning mandate holders elected from among the members of this coalition, were present at the mentioned booths,” CIK concluded.
When deciding on the amount of the fine, the Central Election Commission considered as an aggravating factor the fact that the Draško Stanivuković – Safe Srpska Movement Coalition had been previously sanctioned multiple times for violating the provisions of the Election Law, and that the specific case involved two offenses. As an aggravating factor, CIK also took into account the failure to respect the sanction imposed in a previous decision – the refusal to remove the disputed content.
