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 a list of independent candidates certified for participation in elections in accordance with this Law.

(2) “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 a certain level of authority and which does not contain the multimember constituencies;

b) a cantonal constituency where a total number of representatives is elected and constituted for 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 where the State level of authority is elected.

3) “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.

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

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

6) “Election campaign” shall mean actions and procedures in the period established by this Law within which a political subject informs the voters and the public, as prescribed by the Law, about their programs and candidates for the forthcoming elections.

7) “Compensatory mandates” shall mean the mandates that are allocated to the lists of political parties or coalitions according to the number of valid votes received, and serve to compensate for inadequate proportional representation at the entity level arrived at by summing up the results for the particular multimember constituencies in the entity.

8) “National Minority Member” shall mean a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina who does not belong to any of the three constituent peoples. A national minority is made of people of the same or similar ethnic background, same or similar tradition, customs, faith, language, culture and spirituality and close or related history and other features.

9) “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.

10) “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.

11) “Parliamentary party” shall mean a political party represented in representative or legislative government authorities.

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

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

14) “Eligible voter (loc. birač)”, for the purpose of this Law, shall mean a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina registered in the Central Voters’ Register.

15) “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).

16) “Electronic media”, for the purpose of this Law, shall mean any public and private television and radio stations holding an appropriate license issued by the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA).

17) “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.

18) “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.

19) “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 specific platforms designed to allow users to generate contents and interact with information and its sources.

20) “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.

“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.