With the establishment of a highly decentralized parliamentary republic whose constitutional regime is part of the Dayton Peace Agreement, political relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)remain trapped between stalemates created by political parties.
A state in which corruption is a significant problem and the government works in everyone’s interests, but not in the interest of the citizens, is a platform that remains inaccessible to all those who are outside the nationalist political spectrum, Klix.ba writes.
Opposition political parties usually achieve significant political results during one or two rounds of elections in which they participate after their members rebelliously leave the dominant parties and decide to establish their own, boldly stating that they will now be the complete opposite of those parties in which they started to develop their political careers.
The Freedom House index, a non-profit organization whose reports are used by the largest and most important international institutions, as well as in academic circles, annually publishes a report on the state of freedoms in the political life of countries around the world (political rights).
For the past year, the biggest objections that result from lack of freedom are the work of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of BiH, which they do not consider that is or that, in such circumstances can be deprived of political involvement in work, as is the case with local election commissions. The assessment of freedom in this sense is 2 out of a possible 4 points.
As a positive thing they point out the fact that political parties, movements, and organizing the population can work without restrictions, although regardless of that fact, the Federation of BiH (FBiH) is dominated by Bosniaks and Croats, while in Republika Srpska (RS) it is the case with representatives of the Serb people.
According to the CEC report on election indicators, and based on the aggregate statistics of the political representation that year, a total of 574 certified political entities participated in the 2020 elections. In the last elections, there were a total of 3.384.244 voters in BiH.
Freedom House points to legal barriers that prevent representatives of opposition parties from forming power due to extensive veto rights by those labeled as “constituent peoples”. In this sense, the rating for BiH is 2 out of a possible 4.
”Besides domestic problems such as the politicization of public resources and the influence of corrupt patronage networks, some foreign powers have enormous influence in BiH’s political sphere. The governments of Serbia and Croatia exert influence through their local allies, the SNSD and the HDZ BiH. The Russian and the Turkish governments have also offered support to preferred parties and candidates, “ the report said.
They noted that corruption is widespread. Citizens still largely do not have access to or lack knowledge of what and how the government is doing.
The general assessment of BiH is that it is a partially free society when it comes to both political and civil rights, and there has been no progress for years.
If the pressure of the international community bears fruit and the CEC of BiH is paid for the organization of general elections to be held this year, citizens will have the opportunity to decide whether to once again choose according to the tradition of their own voting whose motive remains unknown, or it will be decided whether there is a true alternative to the current chaos in BiH.
E.Dz.
