15. Bosnia and Herzegovina

Muslims (usually labelled with a capital ‘M’) were officially recognized as a nation and constituent people in 1971.

After independence, RTV SA was renamed RTV Bosnia and Herzegovina and then BHRT (Radiotelevizija Bosne i Hercegovine) after the war as a state public broadcasting service.

During the 2018 elections, in the largest canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovnia (FBiH), Tuzla, which had 131,036 eligible voters, the cap was set at 26,207 BAM or €13,399; for the Federation, with 2,093,784 registered voters, it was 628,135 BAM or €321,160; and at the state level, with 3,355,429 voters, it amounted to 1,006,628 BAM or €514,681. Total spending reported by major parties which had a candidate in most cantons as well as at both the FBiH and state levels was well below the caps—The Social Democratic Party (SDP) spent 1,338,114 BAM (€684,166) and the Party of Democratic action (SDA) spent 915,083 BAM (€467,874). The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) ran in both Republika Srpska (RS) and at the state level and spent a total of 1,253,448 BAM (€640,877), while the caps were set at 378,493 BAM (€193,520) for the RS level and 1,006,628 BAM (€514,681) for the state level.

Article 7.3 (1) Candidates and supporters of political parties, lists of independent candidates, list of members of national minorities and coalitions, as well as independent candidates and their supporters, and election administration officials or those otherwise hired in the election administration are not allowed to: … promise any financial reward or other material gain with the purpose of gaining support of voters, or to threaten supporters of other political parties, coalitions, list of independent candidates or independent candidates.