's campaign posters featuring
Mostar city council candidate
Mario Kordić. The slogan
Investments, economy, jobs is positioned above the party's logo Electoral issues dominated the Bosnian public sphere across September and October, although the electoral campaign officially started only on 16 October. Political parties held large rallies, despite growing
COVID-19 cases (over 50,000 cases and 1,234 deaths by 31 October) and in violation of health and safety regulations. According to
Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BIH), political parties spent almost one million
BAM on video production and advertising in TV and print media in the first two weeks of campaign. Almost the entire amount was spent by the main six parties, with the largest share by Banja Luka-based
SNSD (351,357) and
PDP (325,852 km). Transparency International also recorded multiple examples of abuse of administrative resources by parties in power for electoral purposes. In
Velika Kladuša, outgoing mayor and convicted war criminal
Fikret Abdić, under arrest since June for abuse of office, was released to allow him to carry out electoral campaign. The international
High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Valentin Inzko, noted that the election campaign was "characterized by divisive, negative rhetoric that deepens existing divisions and makes reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina increasingly difficult." The Central Electoral Commission (CIK) fined several parties for illicit activities before the formal start of the electoral campaign. On 7 October, the CIK banned from elections the
United Srpska and fined it BAM 10,000 for diffusion of a video on social media deemed as spreading ethnic hatred. On 15 October, the
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina annulled such decision, as it deemed that the legal provisions referred to by the CIK (Election Law) did not apply to the period ahead the formal start of the electoral campaign. The video continued to be shared by the party on social media in the following weeks. The number of voters registers from abroad soared to 101,771, alarming judicial institutions to the risk of fraud. The CIK received over 3,500 reports of suspected fraud, particularly in relation to
Srebrenica and
Brčko. To facilitate the identification of such cases, on 8 October the CIK published on its website the liste of registered mail-in voters, including names and addresses, allowing all citizens to identify and report suspected irregularities. On 14 October the BiH Agency for the Protection of Personal Data requested the removal of the list of registered mail-in voters from the CIK website, citing privacy concerns. The CIK rejected over 27,000 received applications for voting from abroad The local elections were observed remotely by the
Council of Europe. ==Results==