CEC will sanction premature campaign of political entities, portals must have ownership information

(Patria) - The Central Election Commission of BiH has published the Rulebook on media representation and public advertising of political entities during the election period, in accordance with the amendments to the Election Law of BiH imposed by the High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt.

The election period includes the period from the date of the election announcement until the date of confirmation of the election results.

A premature election campaign is specifically defined, which represents any form of campaign activities undertaken by political entities in the period from the announcement of elections until the official start of the election campaign.

The Central Election Commission will pay special attention to false information during the election period, which may jeopardize the integrity of the election process and misinform voters.

When it comes to electronic media, according to the CEC's Rulebook, no political entity can have a privileged position over another political entity.

When it comes to online media (portals), there are also certain rules for reporting on the election campaign, namely that online media are obliged to provide public and transparent information about their ownership, and must have the ownership structure, name, address, phone number, email address, and contacts of the responsible publisher and editor, to whom complaints and objections can be directed, published in an appropriate place.

Regarding the premature campaign, the CEC has clearly specified that political entities are prohibited from conducting campaigns and paid political advertising through media or social networks, except for advertising about internal meetings of bodies and statutory bodies of political entities, such as the Presidency, Main Board, Assembly, Congress, Convention, etc., in the period from the date of the election announcement until the official start of the election campaign, which begins 30 days before the elections.

Price lists for paid political advertising must be the same for all political entities, and price lists must be made available to the Communications Regulatory Agency (RAK) and accredited political entities 15 days before the start of the election campaign.

Paid political advertising must be clearly marked and must not be broadcast 15 minutes before, during, or 15 minutes after news programs.

Political entities are obliged to remove all advertisements, posters, and billboards from the campaign area used for the election campaign within 15 days after the elections.

You can view the entire Rulebook on Media Advertising HERE