Azra Zornić, a member of the Association of Independent Intellectuals Circle 99, stated today that based on Article 6.9. of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, she filed an appeal to the Appellate Council of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Central Election Commission’s decision on the appearance and content of the ballot for the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the 2026 General Elections, which was adopted on July 23, but was not published until August 4, as she said, despite her request on July 27.
Speaking at the Krug 99 session on the topic “CEC’s Attack on the Constitutional Order,” Zornić asserted that the CEC intentionally stalled with publication to buy time for printing and distribution of what she described as unconstitutional ballots.
“The decision is unconstitutional for a couple of key reasons. Firstly, the CEC violated Article 5.14, paragraph 3 of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina by changing constitutional terminology. The ballot lists the “Bosniak”, “Croat,” and “Serb member” (adjectives), while the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Article V) and the Law explicitly use nouns: “Bosniak,” “Croat”, and “Serb.” This semantic manipulation has no legal grounds and derives the mandate from the office rather than the individual. Second, the CEC conducted an illegal division of the single electoral unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into parts 701 and 702, violating Article 8.1 of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The law prescribed the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a single entity for the elections of the Presidency, while such numeric division is a pure political decision without legal grounds,” Zornić said.
She assessed that the response of the Appellate Division was politically motivated and that the judges did not consider the case on its merits, but on the suggestion of the Secretary-General, rejected her appeal as inadmissible, stating that: “The Decision of the CEC of Bosnia and Herzegovina was made as a general administrative act….against which it is not possible to conduct an administrative dispute, and that it did not violate anyone’s rights. “
“The claim that an appeal cannot be made against such a decision, or an administrative dispute cannot be conducted, is absurd. The decision was signed by the President of the Division, Judge Zvjezdana Antonović. We request that political representatives who swear by Bosnia and Herzegovina immediately sign and submit the prepared request to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina! You have no right to excuses and hiding! Prevent the policy of a fait accompli and the legalization of unconstitutional practices and electoral engineering in favor of the ethno-nationalist matrices which guarantee them ethnic legitimacy, vote predictability, and further division of the state. To accept this would mean the further fascistization of society. I wonder, how can a ballot be a “general administrative act”, when it is a document which was available to all voters in the elections and which was adopted under the authorization of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina? Such classification of the decision in the category of indisputable acts serves only to prevent legal protection, conceal unconstitutionality and legitimize the violation of voters’ rights through procedural tricks,” Zornić believes.
She emphasized that, considering the aforementioned circumstances and the impossibility of obtaining legal protection through regular legal channels, she decided to address politicians who have legal standing to submit requests for a constitutional review of the contested decision before the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the only politician who immediately and unconditionally accepted the proposal was the delegate in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zlatko Miletić.
“Since the rules of the Court stipulate that signatures of at least three delegates from that house are required for the request to even be considered, Mr. Miletić called on his fellow delegates to sign the request. However, faced with a lack of support from his colleagues, he failed to obtain the consent of the fourth delegate,” Zornić said.
Adil Kulenović, President of the Krug 99, assessed that this case represents “a silent administrative blow by the CEC to the constitutional order,” which at this moment can only be stopped by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In this context, he called on politicians to sign and submit a request to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to prevent, as he said, the legalization of unconstitutional practice and election engineering.
