Political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported in their post-election financial reports 11.3 million Bosnian Marks (BAM) of election campaign expenses, which is the largest amount ever reported to the BiH’s Central Election Commission (CEC), Transparency International BiH said.

However, data the organization presented shows that eight parties reported unrealistically low campaign costs, at least 1.5 million BAM less than estimated by TIBiH.

Given that TIBiH did not have data on the costs of advertising on web portals and YouTube, printing and distribution of advertising material, as well as numerous other types of advertising, the parties had to report much higher amounts because TIBiH's monitoring included only four components.

The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) reported 1.54 million BAM of total campaign expenses, although TIBiH estimated that this party spent at least 2 million BAM on billboards, media ads, Facebook and pre-election rallies alone. Thus, the SNSD reported about 150,000 BAM in expenses for pre-election rallies. According to TIBiH, that figure is unrealistic.

TIBiH estimates that 99 larger SNSD rallies cost at least 850,000 BAM and that the actual expenses of the party’s campaign significantly exceed the income it reported, which amounts to 1.8 million BAM and does not contain any donations from private companies.

The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) reported 1.5 million BAM in campaign expenses, which is about 220,000 less than what TIBiH’s estimate, and significantly lower amounts than those reported by the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) and the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), especially regarding advertising in the media and the organisation of pre-election rallies.

United Srpska, DEMOS and the Socialist Party did not report any expenses of pre-election rallies, even though TIBiH observers say the party organised more than 70 rallies of these parties. The two parties also did not report any internet advertising costs, although according to publicly available data they spent significant amounts on Facebook ads.

The Democratic People’s Alliance (DNS) and the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) also reported significantly lower costs than estimated by TIBiH.

Of the other parties, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), People and Justice (NIP), the Union for a Better Future (SBB), Our Party and HDZ BIH reported the largest campaign expenses, and the reported amounts are higher than TIBiH's estimate considering that the organisation covered only four segments of campaign expenses. However, when analysing individual expenses, TIBiH said it is evident that SDP reported lower media advertising costs.

The Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH) reported 427,000 BAM in election campaign expenses, although only a few days before the elections it denied TIBiH's data and claimed that this amount was only 106,000 BAM. The party later reported a figure that roughly matches the data of TIBiH. The amount is significantly higher than the total income of the party, which was about 299,000 BAM. Judging by the report, SBiH has not yet paid the expenses of the campaign because it has declared debts of more than 390,000 BAM, the largest part of which was incurred this year.

Numerous parties could not explain from which sources they financed the campaign. Seven did not submit a report to the CEC, while 26 did not present any campaign expenses.

TIBiH said that the Law on the Financing of Political Parties should be amended in order to improve transparency and introduce greater control, as there is evidence that the accounts of political parties are ultimately paid with public money. For these elections, the CEC changed the forms on which campaign expenses are reported, so the parties presented the expenses of internet advertising separately for the first time.

Parties reported 933,000 BAM in expenses and publicly available Facebook data show that parties and candidates spent about 491,000 BAM on political advertising on this platform alone. Since data for other platforms are not available, it is not possible to check the accuracy of this data.

The organisation also pointed out that a large number of media did not submit their prices for political advertising to the regulatory agency.