ZAGREB, May 8, 2018 – Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Central Electoral Committee (SIP) on Tuesday adopted a decision to call a general election in that country for October 7.
SIP president, Irena Hadžiabdić told reporters in Sarajevo that the decision to call the thirteenth post-war election in the country was adopted in accordance with the electoral law which regulates that an election should be called 150 days earlier.
“These are direct elections for members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the House of Representatives in the State Parliament, members of the House of Representatives in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (entity), members of the National Assembly in Republika Srpska (entity), the president and two vice presidents in that entity, and members of the assemblies in the ten cantons in the Federation entity,” Hadžiabdić said.
According to SIP records, there are currently about 3.3 million voters in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the elections are likely to cost around 8.5 million convertible marks (about 4.3 million euro). Part of those funds is being secured by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe.
July 24 is the deadline for voters abroad to register in order to be able to send a postal vote. The election campaign officially starts on September 7 and will continue until October 6.
In the last election in 2014, as many as 7,748 people ran for 500 seats and positions.
The election has been called despite the fact that some provisions of the current law have been put out of force following a 2016 decision by the Constitutional Court which determined that the current system defining the method of the indirect election of representatives to the House of Peoples in the Federation parliament is not in accordance with the constitution.
Hadžiabdić said that the existing situation is in contradiction to the OSCE’s stance on the principles of implementing elections which oblige all members of that organisation and which define that election rules cannot be changed directly ahead of an election. However, in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this situation is not a precedent and similar situations have occurred before.
“If we don’t find solutions to the legislation, we will be in a serious problem,” Hadžiabdić said.
She recalled that the parliament will sit until 7 September and that it has to adopt amendments to the legislation by then. She added that the option of international legal intervention still remained, however, she didn’t think that would occur.
Negotiations between parties representing Croat and Bosniak voters regarding an election model for members of the House of Peoples for the past year have been unsuccessful.
HDZ BiH insists on a “package deal” and a new model to elect the Croat and Bosniak members to the Presidency with the establishment of ad hoc electoral constituencies in the Federation entity, which Bosniak and civic parties have resolutely rejected claiming that the Constitutional Court’s decision doesn’t refer to that matter.
The only conclusion adopted from that last round of negotiations on May 3 was to include legal experts from the Council of Europe’s Venetian Commission to determine what solutions to the election rules are in accordance with European legal practice.
A solution to the problem of electing members to the House of Peoples in the Federation entity, who are delegated by the assemblies of the ten cantons in the entity, is essential because without it, it will not be possible to form an executive government or adopt laws.
Croat and Bosniak members to the House of Peoples in the State Parliament are elected from the Federation’s House of Peoples and without that body, it won’t be possible to adopt laws at the state level as well.
