Certain expressions used in this Law shall have the following meaning:

1) “Political subject” shall mean a political party, an independent candidate, a coalition, or alist of independent candidates certified for participation in elections in accordance with this Law.

2) “Executive office”, shall mean a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their deputies, the President and Vice Presidents of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the President and Vice Presidents of Republika Srpska, a member of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Prime Minister, a member of the Government of Republika Srpska, including the Prime Minister, a member of the Government of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a member of a Cantonal Government, the City Mayor, the Deputy City Mayor, the Mayor of a municipality, the Deputy Mayor of a municipality.

3)  “Constituency” shall mean:

a) a basic constituency which means a municipality, the City of Banja Luka, the District of Brčko, the city constituency of the City of Mostar and constituencies of the city area of the City of Mostar where a total number of representatives is elected and constituted for acertain level of authority and which does not contain the multimember constituencies; 

b) a cantonal constituency where a total number of representatives is elected and constitutedfor a certain level of authority and which does not contain multimember constituencies.

c)  an entity constituency where the Entity level of authority is elected and constituted, containing multimember constituencies, and 

d)  an entity constituency wherethe State level of authority iselected.

4) “Multi-member constituency” shall mean a constituency where more than one but less than the total number of representatives for a certain level of authority is elected.

5) “Electoral cycle”shall mean the mandate period relating to a certain level of authority.

6) “Election threshold” shall mean a certain percentage of votes received (valid ballots) that must be won bya political subject in order forit to be eligible to participate in the allocation of mandates.

7) “Election campaign” shall mean actions and procedures in the period starting 30 days before election day and ending upon commencement of period of twenty-four (24) hours prior to opening of the Polling Stations during which a political subject informs the voters and the public, as prescribed by this Law, about their programs and candidates for the forthcoming elections.

8) “Premature election campaign” shall mean all forms of campaign actions taken by political subjects in the period between the announcement of elections and the periodof the official start of the election campaign.

9) “Permanent residence” shall mean a municipality,city or district in whicha citizen has settled with the intention of living there permanently.

10) “Compensatory mandate” shall mean the mandate that serves to compensate for inadequate proportional representation, arrived at by summing up the results for the particular multimember electoral units.

11) “Candidate list” is a list submitted by political subjects and certified by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to participate in the elections.

12) “Candidate list for compensatory mandates” is a list submitted by political subjects from which a compensatory mandate is awarded according to the order of candidates on the list, and which is submitted after the verification of the regular list

13) “Member of a national minority” is a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina who falls within the definition included in the Law on the Protection of the Rights of National Minorities(“OfficialGazetteofBosniaandHerzegovina”,Nos.12/03,76/05and93/08).

14) “Displaced person” shall mean a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina whose status of a displaced person has been established by a competent administration authority responsible for the displaced persons affairs as provided by law.

15) “Refugee” shall mean a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina who has the voting rights and has taken up his/her residence abroad, having the status as refugee from BiH.

16) “Parliamentary party”

17) “Election period” shall mean the period from the day the elections are announced to the day when the election results are validated.

18) “Election year” shall mean the period that corresponds to a calendar year in which elections are planned to be held.

19)  “Eligible voter (loc. birač)”,forthepurposeofthis Law,shallmeananationalofBosniaand Herzegovina registered in the Central Voters’ Register.

20)  “Active voter (loc. glasač)”, for the purpose of this Law, shall mean a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina who is registered in the Central Voters’ Register and who has exercised the right to vote (i.e. the active voting right).

21)  “Municipal election commission” is the election commission that relates to a basic electoral unit referred to in Paragraph (1), sub-paragraph 3), item a) of this Article.

22)  “Electronicmedia”, for the purpose of this Law, shall mean any public and privatetelevision and radio stations holding an appropriate license issued by the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA).

23)  “Online media”, for the purpose of this Law, shall mean the Internet portals and other Internet platforms that represent the means of communication with the purpose of disseminating information of public interest.

24)  “Print media”, for the purpose of this Law, shall include printed publications such as e.g. newspapers, tabloids, magazines, books, pamphlets, which represent the means of mass communication with the purpose of disseminating information of public interest. 

25)  “Social networks” shall mean the Internet or mobile platforms that enable a two-way interaction through user-generated contents and communication, i.e. media available on specificplatforms designed to allow users to generate contents and interact with information and its sources.

26)   “Hate speech” shall mean any form of public expression or speech that provokes or encourages hatred, discrimination or violence against any person or group of persons, based on race, skin color, nationality, sex or religion, ethnic origin or any other personal characteristic or orientation that incites to discrimination, hostility and violence.

27)  “Abuse of public funds and resources”, for the purpose of this Law, shall mean any illegal use of funds and resources of the BiH State, the Entities, Cantons, Brčko District of BiH, or other units of local government and self-government, which the candidates in the elections and on the election lists hold at their disposal in their capacity as public officials or civil servants, or directly elected officials, for the needs of exercising their official duties. The term “resources”, for the purpose of this definition, shall mean movable and immovable properties, including all human resources of the public institutions used during the working hours

28) “Election technologies” shall include a set of information and communication programmes, information and communication devices, methods and procedures and other technical equipment used in the election process, which may include but shall not be limited to: equipment for electronic counting of ballots, equipment for electronic voter identification, equipment for polling stations’ and counting centres’ video surveillance and video-surveillance footage, etc, but shall exclude equipment for electronic voting.

29) “Tendered ballot” shall mean a ballot of identical design and contents as a regular ballot which is placed in a special envelope after voting and which is not counted at the regular polling station but is instead counted in the counting centre after verification of the voting right.

30) “Election material” shall mean the material used at the polling station and is divided into sensitive and non-sensitive material.

31) “Child abuse for political purposes” shall mean involving a child in activities that may be associated with political advocacy, canvassing or promotion.”

32) “Donations and contributions” shall mean occasional or regular payments or contributions by which natural or legal persons give money to a political subject in an amount exceeding the amount of the membership fee, as well as providing services or giving products to a political subject without charge.”

33) “Election campaign expenses” include all expenses incurred for the purpose of public presentation of the participants and their election programs in the elections and inviting voters to vote for them, which include and is not limited to: organizing and holding rallies, promotion, production and distribution of advertising material, brochures and similar materials; political advertising; media, marketing, public relations and consulting services, conducting training for party activities as well as other activities whose purpose is unequivocally related to the election campaign