The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC BiH) made new decisions to place parliamentary mandates on hold and allocate them to replacement candidates, continuing its work to implement the results of the General Elections held on October 4th of this year.
Today’s sessions considered requests from elected Officials who hold executive office functions, which is why they decided to temporarily reject mandates in legislative institutions.
The decisions apply to four mandates at the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and two mandates in the Canton 10 Assembly.
Uk and Pozder Remain in Executive Functions, Kadić and PurićEnter the FBiH parliament.
Among officials whose parliamentary mandate was approved is also the prime Minister of Sarajevo, Nihad Uk (Our Party). Instead of him, the place in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of BiH was awarded to Jasmin Kadić, a candidate from Naša stranka’s compensatory list.
An identical procedure was carried out in the case of the Federal Minister of Environment and Tourism, Nasiha Pozder, who was also elected to the House of Representatives as a candidate of Naša stranka. After her mandate was placed on hold, the CEC BiH awarded a replacement mandate to Amir Purić, also from this political party’s compensatory list.
In this way, Naša stranka will have two alternative representatives in the federal legislative body instead of its elected officials who continue to perform duties in the executive branch.
Replacement Mandates for Karić and Maras
By decision of the CEC BiH, the request of Mirza Mušija, Minister for Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of Zenica-Doboj Canton, to place his mandate in the FBiH House of Representatives on hold was also accepted. The parliamentary seat that he won in the elections was awarded to Selvedin Karić.
Placing a mandate on hold was also approved for the President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lidija Bradar, who also won a parliamentary seat in the federal Parliament. Instead of Bradar, the mandate in the House of Representatives was awarded to Nevenka Maras.
This concludes the decisions from this session concerning the replacement of four elected representatives in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH.
Shifts in the Canton 10 Assembly
The CEC also decided on the mandates of the elected officials in the Canton 10 Assembly who currently hold executive functions. Federal Minister of Health Nediljko Rimac was granted a hold on his cantonal parliamentary mandate, and his seat in the Assembly went to Gordana Nakić.
The request was also accepted for Canton 10 Prime Minister Ivan Vukadin. In his place, the parliamentary mandate in the cantonal Assembly was awarded to Stipan Šarac.
Vukadin’s case, however, has an additional political and institutional dimension, as his name simultaneously appears in the process of filling a vacant seat in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Vukadin Offered a Mandate in the Old Composition of the State House of Peoples as Well
Two days ago, Ivan Vukadin was offered the mandate of delegate in the previous composition of the House of Peoples of the PS BiH. This is the seat left vacant after the departure of Ilija Cvitanović, who left the House of Peoples to assume the mandate won in this year’s elections for the state Parliament’s House of Representatives.
Vukadin thus found himself in a situation where, alongside his function as Prime Minister of Canton 10 and the cantonal Assembly mandate he placed on hold, he received an offer to enter the state House of Peoples from the previous electoral cycle.
According to expectations expressed in the context of current political circumstances, Vukadin might decline the offered mandate in the old composition of the BiH House of Peoples. Should that happen, the CEC BiH will have to continue the procedure of filling the vacant delegate seat.
This would entail extending an offer to the next candidate from the corresponding candidate list from 2023.
Filling of Legislative Institutions Continues After Elections
The CEC’s latest decisions are part of the process of aligning election results with functions that certain elected officials already hold. Placing a mandate on hold enables other candidates to temporarily assume parliamentary seats, while executive officeholders continue to perform their ongoing duties.
At today’s session, a total of six requests for mandate holds were thus approved, along with the allocation of corresponding replacement mandates in the FBiH Parliament’s House of Representatives and the Canton 10 Assembly. At the same time, the question of filling the vacant seat in the previous composition of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH remains open, which will depend on Ivan Vukadin’s decision to accept or reject the offered mandate.
