In Republika Srpska (RS), it was announced that a new election law will be adopted by April 20th, under which new bodies will be formed, which, as stated, will be responsible for conducting the upcoming local elections. Previously, the Government of RS called on all election bodies from RS responsible for conducting elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to resign, a demand that the president of the Election Commission of RS announced he would comply with today, while it was rejected by the Central Election Commission (CEC) of BiH, citing this request as an illegal act. What do legal experts say about all this, and is such conduct of elections possible, and what are the consequences?
The Government of RS recently requested all election bodies from RS to resign, a request that was rejected by the CEC of BiH, while the current president of the Election Commission of RS announced that he would comply with this request.
“In legal terms, I consider such a request illegal, and in political terms, I consider it a form of pressure on the independent and impartial work of a member of the CEC of BiH,” emphasized Vanja Bjelica-Prutina, a member of the CEC of BiH.
In about ten days, RS will adopt its electoral law, under which it will conduct the upcoming local elections after the High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, whose authority is not recognized in RS, imposed amendments to the BiH Election Law.
“The law will be adopted by April 20th, and after that, we must work quickly to form a new structure. No one says they won’t be part of that structure, but the solutions they received in Sarajevo can be crumpled up; only what the RS Election Commission says will apply, and it will select the new structure,” said Milorad Dodik (SNSD), the president of RS.
It is not illegal for entities to have their own electoral laws and election bodies, which RS does have, but they perform activities assigned to them by the CEC of BiH, and according to the opinion of the former president of the CEC, only this commission is competent to conduct elections throughout BiH.
“Whether the law will be adopted or not, is hypothetical, however, the only legal conduct of elections is the one decided by the CEC; others do not have that authority, and only the CEC announces elections. The decision must be published in the official Gazette of BiH, so this is just an attempt to create another political crisis,” believes Vehid Sehic, former president of the CEC of BiH.
The OSCE Mission states that this constitutes a violation of the constitutional order of BiH, which can harm the integrity of the electoral process and the election results. Here’s what legal experts in RS and the Federation of BiH (FBiH) say.
“The announced adoption of the RS electoral law is an action based on the BiH Constitution, i.e., the competencies for conducting elections in the territory of RS, and we can freely say that this contributes to strengthening the electoral integrity in BiH,” said constitutional law professor Mile Dmicic.
“Anyone who potentially signs such a decision on the entry of such a law into the Official Gazette of RS could again be brought into the zone of criminal and legal responsibility, as has already been done under the Law on Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court,” says constitutional law professor Davor Trlin.
While everyone awaits the adoption of a new electoral law in RS, a session of the Election Commission of RS is scheduled for today, when yesterday’s information in certain media outlets that a call has been received from the Government in 60 municipalities and cities for all members of local election commissions to resign can be verified. It remains to be seen who will comply with the Government’s request and who with the decisions of the CEC of BiH. Considering the municipalities where the current coalition is not in power, we can expect a real commotion.
