Nešić offered jobs in police agencies for votes, party fined 3,000 KM: Prosecutor's Office of BiH declares itself incompetent!

The Democratic People's Alliance (DNS) has been fined 3,000 KM for violating the Election Law because Nenad Nešić, Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina and president of that party, at a pre-election rally in Višegrad promised party supporters help and support with employment in BiH institutions if they achieved a good result in the elections.

With this, the Municipal Election Commission in Višegrad (OIK) amended its initial decision to suspend the proceedings based on a report by TI BiH, which contained a recording in which Nešić promised employment in security agencies, due to, as they claimed at the time, a lack of evidence. Namely, the Central Election Commission accepted the appeal of TI BiH and ordered a new decision, after which the OIK determined that the minister, i.e., his party, had indeed violated the law, announced Transparency International.

Recall, Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) received a recording from an anonymous report of a pre-election rally in Višegrad, in which Nenad Nešić addressed the gathered citizens, calling on them to bring a "good result" i.e., victory in the elections, and that with "colleagues from the Council of Ministers" he has a sort of agreement regarding the number of people he can "push through" in one of the job competitions that were being announced at that time in various institutions and agencies at the BiH level.

"I don't know if you've seen, a few days ago a competition was announced for the Border Police, shout if you have someone to apply, to compete, I will help. I will arrange with my colleagues in the Council of Ministers for Višegrad to get a certain number of people who will work in the Border Police. Also, there is a competition in SIPA, there is a competition in DKPT. We are talking about security agencies where I can step in in some way," Nešić stated, emphasizing that he makes no distinction between members and activists of the SNSD and DNS.

TI BiH reported this case, along with the audio recording, to the Central Election Commission of BiH as an evident example of violating the Election Law through promising monetary or other material benefits, which was forwarded to the OIK Višegrad for action, which initially decided that there was no evidence that the recording was made precisely during the pre-election campaign.

TI BiH filed an appeal against this decision, which the CIK BiH accepted, after which the OIK Višegrad, in a re-examination, changed its decision and concluded that Nenad Nešić violated the provisions of the Election Law of BiH, which stipulates that it is forbidden to promise monetary rewards or other material benefits with the aim of gaining voter support or threatening supporters of other political parties, coalitions, lists of independent candidates, and independent candidates.

Due to indications of elements of several criminal offenses, reports were submitted to the competent prosecutor's offices, of which the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared itself incompetent and forwarded the information to the District Public Prosecutor's Office in East Sarajevo.

Transparency International in BiH submitted more than 147 reports to the competent authorities during the campaign for the Local Elections due to various electoral irregularities, but the imposed fines were most often related to premature campaigning, while more serious cases of abuse of public resources for the purpose of political promotion and winning over voters often remained unpunished.

Institutions, even when they decide to punish cases like this one in which the party president and state minister offers jobs in exchange for votes, impose sanctions that are minimal, symbolic, and disproportionate to the weight and seriousness of the committed violation, thereby failing to achieve the necessary deterrent effect to discourage future abuse of public resources, such as employment in public institutions in exchange for votes and political support.