TI BiH Called Political Parties to Release Campaign Financing Reports

02 October 2008

Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) appealed to all political parties running in the local elections to present to the public reports on the manner of financing of their election campaigns, so that the citizens could make an informed decision on October 5, the ballot day.

TI BiH already presented a request to all political parties asking them to present their financial reports. Majority of the political parties have not responded to the request at all, and those that did provided incomplete and vague information.

TI BiH emphasizes that citizens, when choosing for whom they should cast their votes, need o know the sources of finances of parties` election campaigns, how the funds a distributed, having in mind that political parties are also financed from the state Budget.

- The quality of governance is seriously undermined when elected political representatives and officials make decisions motivated to pay back those who financed their taking to power and not all population. Democracy suffers that political parties buy their votes instead of focusing on the quality of messages carried by their campaigns, says TI BiH.

The TI survey on financing of political parties shows that budgets at various levels of government dedicate more than 25 million BAM (12.4 million EUR) to finance political parties.

Therefore, TI BiH believes it is of utmost importance that election campaigns are transparent, to reduce the possibility for corruption in financing of political parties and their activities.