Youth and Elections Campaign – Action in 42 cities… (13/07-22/07, 2006) 

Youth Information Agency BiH (OIA / YIA BiH) is conducting the national campaign Shake Up the Country/Razdrmaj državu, within the project Youth and Elections. In this campaign, OIA is inviting the young people to take participation in parliamentary elections on more massive scale and to vote. Info promotions are certainly amongst the most important project activities and it will be launched in the second week of July 2006. It is planned that OIA activists and partnership organisations supply young people with Info brochures on elections and to provide them information on election process and importance of participating in it. Apart from having the opportunity to find out about elections, young people will become familiarised with the first BiH social game I play, I vote in, I win! The game was created by OIA activists in order to bring closer the principle of election and decision-making to the young people, once they will have been in the position to be elected or to elect somebody. 

Info promotions are planned to be held in over 50 towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina with special staying in larger centres, following this order: Bihać, Banja Luka, Zenica, Travnik, Široki Brijeg, Mostar, Trebinje, Goražde, Bijeljina, Tuzla, Sarajevo and Istočno Sarajevo (East Sarajevo). Within the big info caravan in duration of eight days, youth will be supplied with approximately 100.000 various promotional materials, on the locations where they gather – city squares, public baths, parks, street cafes, etc. 

Day 1 – Caravan Info-Promotion 

13/07/ - OIA BiH Team, composed of nine members, started a large-scale Info Promotion Caravan by the activities in Vitez, Jajce, Mrkonjić Grad, Ključ and Bosanski Petrovac. With the support of the activists in local partnership organisations, on the first day of caravan young people in the mentioned cities were given the promotional materials, providing them the basic information on the elections and stating arguments because of which it is important to be at the pooling places on October 1st. The provocative title pages in info bulletins stirred up the interest of the young people who were inquisitively reading the contents and interpretations that were offered. 

Day 2 – Info-Promotion Caravan

14.07. – On the second day of Caravan, OIA launched Info Promotion in Bihać. The young people were given the answer regarding their most common dilemma when it comes to the elections: What will happen if I do not vote? OIA activists emphasized that nothing particular would happen in that case, except that somebody else instead of them will elect government that will run the country for the next four years, meaning the politicians that will decide on BiH development and all important issues.  Only 25% of youth participated in the previous elections, in other words, 13% of the total electoral body were the young people. It signifies that the previous government was elected by 87% of persons OVER 30 years of age. Having that on mind, it’s no surprise at all that the activities of the politicians were directed towards those who had actually voted.
Following Bihać, Info Promotions were held in Bosanska Krupa, Novi Grad and Prijedor.

Day 3 – Info-Promotion Caravan

15/07/ - Apart from distributing the brochures to the youth, activists of OIA BiH and local partnership organisations were collecting the messages, wishes and suggestions that the young people conveyed to BiH politicians, at  the central  stands located in all larger cities where the Caravan stayed. This was the case on the third day of its tour in Banja Luka. While writing their messages in Gospodska Street, young people confirmed that the problems of the youth population in BiH are universal and common for all. The activists were tasked to persuade the youth, through direct contact, that their participation in the elections and voting may actually change their current position for the better. 

One of the ways was to offer the counterargument on their excuse: „I do not have anybody to vote for“? It is quite possible that all politicians look the same, offering nothing attractive. However, many think that maybe the best politicians are not even listed as the candidates. Nevertheless, we can surely select some party as our best choice amongst 48 parties. Moreover, if the young people do not want to select a team (a particular party), these elections offer them the possibility to identify one or more individuals that they find interesting, or whom they appreciate, respect or prefer as a politicians whom they consider to be simply better then the others. Therefore, the “open lists” give the opportunity to vote for one or more candidates given on the list of candidates.

On the third day of Caravan, following Banja Luka, OIA visited Prnjavor, Derventa, Doboj and Zenica.

Day 4 – Info-Promotion Caravan

16/07 – The promotional material on elections was also distributed to the young people in Travnik, Bugojno, Kupres, Livno, Tomislavgrad, Posušje and Široki Brijeg. Just like in other cities, it was important to emphasize that in the upcoming elections on October 1st, we should vote in:

a) the member of BiH Presidency,
b) the representatives/delegates in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH,
c) the delegates in National Parliament of Republika Srpska and the President or Vice-President of RS or the delegates of Parliamentary Assembly of Federation BiH and the delegates in his/her own cantonal assemblies.

In relation to Info – brochure, we may also say that this publication is a peculiar picture-book of BiH political system, because it explains “who is who” in the government, through the illustrations of political hierarchy, clarifying for which  structures young people are to vote in the forthcoming elections.

Activists identified that, comparing to the young people in other cities, the youth in the cities in West Herzegovina showed the least of interest for the election process and participation in the society. Displayed indifference towards the events that took place in the town is an indicator that it is necessary to educate the youth in the mentioned cities, and to raise their awareness on democratisation and participation of the youth in social life.  

Day 5– Info-Promotion Caravan

17/07 – On the fifth day of Info-Promotion Caravan, OIA started the street action in Mostar, followed by distribution of material in Stolac and Ljubinje. The final activities took place in the evening, in Trebinje. Trebinje steamed ahead of other cities for its welcome, kindness, and level of interest displayed. As expected, the young people excellently accepted the method of election process promotion, which was the approach deliberately chosen by the activists to provide them with basic information on the elections. Perhaps the most interest of young people was expressed for the first BiH social game “I play; I vote in, I win!” which is also one of the tools to involve the young people in decision-making and election processes. During the Info-Promotions, young people were testing the game, laughing and playing while participating in the city contests, and were also learning something new about themselves, state, politics and youth. Some of them even won and walked off with the valuable prizes.   

Day 6 – Info-Promotion Caravan

18/07 – On the sixth day of Info-Promotion Caravan, the activists of OIA BiH were “shaking up” the following cities: Bileća, Gacko, Foča, Goražde, Vlasenica and Zvornik.
Taking into account the fact that the young people make more then 20% of the total electoral body, the objective was to persuade them to force themselves upon the politicians as an important target group. In spite of the fact that only 25% of young population participated in parliamentary elections in 2002, and contrary to the general viewpoint that the youth is apathetic, lethargic, and indifferent, we believe that young people will participate on more massive scale in October elections, because:

• THERE IS NO REGISTRATION!
• There is a new EDUCATED generation of young voters
• DIFFICULT POSITION of young population  is an incentive to participate in the elections

In addition to the basic information such as the date of elections, for whom and for what one will vote, and who is entitled to vote, young people were suggested to obtain additional information by all means, to find out what the candidates offer, to understand how the candidates intend to keep their promises, etc. The young voters were recommended to choose those parties and candidates who offer measurable promises, concrete programmes to resolve pressing issues of young people in BiH, and by all means, to give the preference to the younger candidates on the lists. Unfortunately, due to poor representation of youth in politics, in the parliaments, and in the assemblies, the topics that are relevant for young people were insufficiently represented as well. Young population need the politicians who will be sensitive to their problems, needs and suggestions. However, in spite of the efforts of the junior representatives of the political parties to assume top 10 positions on the lists of candidates, the lesson from the experience is that this is not the only way to success. Namely, during the pervious elections, one of the delegates in the assembly of one of the cantons was categorical in his efforts to be the last candidate on the candidate lists of his party! WHY?! Because for him it was easier to promote himself to both the potential and certain voters, as the last candidate on the list, rather then as somebody who assumed number 18 or 27 position, which would increase the possibility that the voters would soon forget his ordinal number or would not even look for him under that number, or might have been at fault, or even mark somebody else!

Day 7 – Info-Promotion Caravan

19/07 – On the seventh day, Campaign “Shake Up the Country” was promoted in Bijeljina, Brčko, Orašje, and Gradačac. In the course of Info-Promotion Caravan, OIA recorded the material that will be used for the new series of television broadcast titled “Tko zadnji –magarac!“ (remark, “Last One is Monkey’s Uncle”), which will be aired from August 20th until September 29th at BHT1. The new series of broadcasts will deal with the activism of the youth within NGO sector and political parties. For this purpose, the selected collocutors were the members of various political parties and organisations, the individuals who, everybody in one’s own way, are making efforts to change the image of the youth in BiH, and at the same time to motivate them to be more actively engaged in social, cultural and political life in the communities where they live. 

Day 8– Info-Promotion Caravan

20/07 – On the last day the activists of OIA and local organisations provide information on the elections to the youth,  during the street actions in Tuzla, Kakanj, Jablanica and Konjic.

Info-Promotion in Sarajevo and Istočno Sarajevo (East Sarajevo)

The Info-Promotions organised on July 22nd, 2006, at several locations in Sarajevo and Istočno Sarajevo, represent the final of the grand caravan of info-promotions which was realised by OIA from 13th to 20th July, 2006, in 50 towns throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.  By this campaign we aimed, above all, to inform young people on the date of elections, who is entitled to vote, and what is necessary to vote. We believe that different design, friendly approach and provocative illustrations on the title page will stir up their interest and that they will find the answers in the brochure. Both, these and our future activities will be aimed to disprove the dogmas amongst younger people who believe that they have nobody  to vote for, that all the politicians are the same and that their vote makes no difference. For these elections 48 parties are registered. It would be enough to choose one that is different in some way and which offers them concrete programmes to achieve the following: more jobs, better education system, visas and improved mobility, housing loans, fight against corruption, etc. It is equally important that the young people be aware of the fact that some politicians needed barely couple of hundred votes to come into power, and because of that each vote is important as the mathematical indicator of the votes that were won in the previous elections, said Jan Zlatan Kulenović, Executive Director of OIA.

Apart from having the opportunity to find out about elections, young people will become familiarised with the first BiH social game I play, I vote in, I win! The game was created by OIA activists in order to bring closer the principle of election and decision-making to the young people, once they will have been in the position to be elected or to elect somebody.

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