“I would also like to report that, while the RS Government was appointed quickly as the first government after the elections in 2018. Regretfully, the new Federation Government has not been appointed more than 18 months since the October 2018 General Elections, as one political party continues to condition the establishment of the government with changes to the BiH Election Law,” High Representative Valentin Inzko.
Also, the citizens of Mostar have been deprived of their right to vote in local elections for more than 10 years, and it is the fifth biggest city in BiH. Also, the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling in the Sejdic-Finci case remains unimplemented after more than 10 years. Other related human rights judgments also remain unimplemented, one of them being that Serbs must have equal status in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton where they are not recognized as a constituent people. So also the Serbs must get the same status as to the other two constituent peoples in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, where only two constituent peoples are recognized – the Croats and the Bosniaks – but not the Serbs. This decision has also not been implemented for ten years.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is due to hold municipal elections in October of this year. To have additional funds for the elections we need a regular budget and hope that such regular budget will be adopted by the end of May.
The Central Election Commission has also warned that some of the required preparatory activities for elections, and possibly the elections themselves, may not be carried out on schedule due to conditions and restrictions caused by the pandemic. It has proposed legislation that would give it the possibility to delay the elections by longer than the current possibly prescribed by law, approximately by one month.
It appears that the work of the Central Election Commission is even more challenging, as some political parties challenge the election of new CEC members. As a consequence, some political parties and institutions controlled by these parties refuse to cooperate with the CEC, which is unacceptable. There are pending court cases challenging the election of CEC members, which will clarify their legality. Until a court ruling, those members shall remain in their positions and all institutions and parties should cooperate with the CEC and its members.
