Opportunities for reconciliation of the election process administation and prevention of corruption in the work of the Central Election Commision of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sofia, June 2012 Prepared by: Danka Polovina-Mandić, Head of Department for implementation of Law on conflict of interests

COMPETENCES OF THE CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very unique institution in BiH, whose uniqueness is reflected in its jurisdictions The BIH CEC is competent to implement:  BiH Election Law;  The Law on conflict of interests;  The Law on political party financing;  Part of the Law on BiH Council of Ministers

Last few years the BiH Central Election Commission also conducts checks of the candidates for the BiH Council of Ministers, as well as checks of candidates for director and deputy directors of the Agency for prevention of corruption and coordination of fight against corruption. Such authorities cannot be found in any institution in the world and from that position we can speak about specific position and strong role of the BiH CEC, as an independent body whose seven members are appointed by the BiH Parliamentary Assembly for seven years mandate.

The election process in BiH also depends on other bodies, and these are municipal and city election commission as permanent bodies having mandate of seven years, and are appointed by the local authorities subject to approval by the BiH CEC. There are also polling station committees appointed by the political parties only for the elections.

The fact that PSC‘s members come from political parties has in the practice of BiH shown that it opens opportunity for members of the polling station committees to affect the voters‘ will by their corruptive actions, making them the weakest link in the electoral system of BiH. The competent prosecutor‘s office is timely informed on all criminal actions, as i.e. forgery of the signatures or vote trading.

Two years ago a significant improvement was made in this area when the legislation was improved by introduction of mechanism for sanctioning polling station committees, as well as by introducing obligation of passing an exam and being certified to work as the polling station committee’s member. It is also necessary to change the Election Law in order to eliminate political influence in appointing polling station committees.

All decision of the BIH CEC are subject to the control by the BIH Court. Number of confirmed decisions of BIH CEC in the election process by the BiH Court is 97,49 %, while this percentage is even higher in the area of political party financing and conflict of interests. This shows that the BiH CEC works legitimately and correctly.

THE LAW ON CONFLICT OF INTERESTS  Entered into the force on November 15, 2002 Since 2008 there are four laws on conflict of interests in BiH. The BiH Central Election Commission is in charge to implement law at the state level, at level of the BiH Federation and Brčko District, while in Republika Srpska the law is implemented by the separate Republic commissions.  Since 2008 there are four laws on conflict of interests in BiH. The BiH Central Election Commission is in charge to implement law at the state level, at level of the BiH Federation and Brčko District, while in Republika Srpska the law is implemented by the separate Republic commissions.

 The law stipulates specific obligations of public officials in performing their function/duty.  The main function of the law is to prevent public officials to use their public function so that they or persons related to them would acquire personal gain. Persons to whom the Law applies:  Elected officials,  Executive officeholders,  Advisors,  Close relatives

LEGAL SOLUTIONS 1. Incompatibility of public function and financial interest:   a) In public enterprise   b) In directorate or privatization agency (applies during the term of office and six months after they leave such office) Obligation to resign from any incompatible function within three days after assuming public office) c)In private enterprise in which the governmental body where the public official serves has invested capital in the four (4) years prior to taking office and during the term of office d) Prohibition to vote on any matter that directly affects a private enterprise in which the elected official, close relative or affiliated persons, has a financial interest.

2. Prohibition of closing personal service contracts with a) a public enterprise, b) private enterprise that is under contract or doing business with government authorities while the public official holds office and only when the value of the contract or the business with government exceeds five thousand Convertible Marks (BAM) per year. The involvement of the close relatives of a public official can also lead to a situation in which a conflict of interest is created for this public official. 3. Prohibition to perform duties in foundations and associations   Public officials are prohibited of carrying out duty of authorized officials in foundations and associations, that are financed from the budget at any level of government in the amount exceeding 10,000 BAM per year or in the amount exceeding 50,000 BAM per year in the foundations and associations in the domain of culture and sports.

4. Accepting gifts (RULES- PROHIBITIONS) Definition of a gift, handling a gift   to accept gift which value is exceeding 100 Euro   receiving additional compensation for tasks performed in exercise of public duty   influence decision of any body or a person   preferring persons on grounds of party or other affiliation or origin, personal or family relations   Use privileged information on the activities of governmental bodies for personal gain or gain of affiliated persons   using in any manner their position to influence legislative, executive or judicial power- obtaining a personal gain or gain of affiliated persons.

5. SANCTIONS  Ineligibility to run for any function of elected official, executive officeholder or advisor in the period of four years following committed offense (as obligatory norm) and monetary fine in the amount from to BAM (as voluntary norm) This is a serious sanction that, as such, cannot be found anywhere in the world and is often questioned from the aspect of protection of human rights.

Statistics on sanctions   Central Election Commission of BiH has so far pronounced 116 sanctions (12 per BiH law, 100 per BiH Federation law and 4 based on the Law of Brčko District BiH)   A total of 47 appeals were submitted to the BiH Court, while 45 were rejected by the BiH Court, and two were permitted in the part referring to the amount of the fine.

At the moment the attempt is made to liberalize legislative regulations in the area of conflict of interests. Proposal of changes and addenda to the Law on conflict of interests in the government institutions of BiH, that had been sent to the Parliament, proposes elimination of the prohibition for close relatives and advisors. The allowed amount for business of private enterprises with institutions financed from the budget is increased and the prohibition to stand for the office is removed, introducing the possibility of removing possible conflict of interests within 30 days following the day the conflict of interests was ascertained.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION