Since the beginning of its non-partisan citizens’ observation mission for the Early Elections for the President of Republika Srpska from among the Serb people, the Coalition “Pod lupom” has recorded a total of 50 electoral irregularities. These irregularities relate to: early campaigning (23 cases), failures of local election commissions (10), irregularities in media conduct (4), disinformation in the campaign (4), misuse of children for political purposes (4), misuse of public resources (2), hate speech (1), irregularities in the formation of polling station committees (1) and other irregularities (1). So far, two political entities have been identified as violating electoral rules. The vast majority of irregularities relate to SDS (55.6%) and SNSD (44.4%).
The Coalition “Pod lupom” also commented on the overall election campaign. They state that although six political entities were certified to participate in the elections, the campaign has been completely shaped by SDS and SNSD, whose narratives dominate the public space. The campaigns have been marked by emotional messaging, inflammatory rhetoric, and mutual discrediting, without clear programmatic solutions. Moreover, both political entities use the narrative of Republika Srpska being endangered, but from different perspectives: SDS speaks of “internal abuses,” while SNSD emphasizes threats from the international community and other ethnic groups in BiH. The use of hate speech is particularly concerning. The presence of hate speech in an election campaign is unacceptable and reflects an underdeveloped and immature political culture and a low level of democratic standards.
The misuse of children for political purposes has again been recorded, even though this practice is explicitly prohibited by the BiH Election Law. Nevertheless, sanctions for this type of violation remain extremely rare.
The Coalition “Pod lupom” warns about the increasingly common misuse of the legal provision that allows internal gatherings of statutory bodies of political parties. Political entities are using such gatherings for covert pre-election activities, which constitutes a form of early campaigning.
Based on the findings to date, the Coalition “Pod lupom” has submitted 25 reports to the Central Election Commission (CEC). So far, the CEC has issued three sanctions, amounting to a total of 47,000 BAM, in response to reports submitted by the Coalition. A significant lack of consistency and uniformity in interpreting and sanctioning electoral irregularities still persists. The Coalition “Pod lupom” stresses that such a practice cannot have a deterrent effect and calls on institutions to fully implement recommendations on timely and adequate sanctioning of all electoral violations.
The Coalition “Pod lupom” announced that around 450 of its observers will monitor the election-day process at nearly every fifth polling station in Republika Srpska.
Election-day observers will monitor all phases of the process: the setup and opening of polling stations, the voting process, the closing of polling stations, counting of ballots, and the packaging of election materials. They will carefully monitor all irregularities that could affect the electoral process and will react immediately to address issues and ensure that the elections proceed in accordance with the law.
The Coalition “Pod lupom” has called on citizens to go out and vote, exercise their right, and report any electoral irregularities they observe via the free hotline 080 05 05 05 or through the Coalition’s social media channels.
Political entities have also been urged to respect electoral rules, refrain from electoral violations on election day, and respect the upcoming election silence. The Coalition “Pod lupom” stated that it will report all electoral irregularities to the competent institutions.