The Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Zoran Tegeltija, expressed hope that the budget for BiH institutions will be sent to the BiH Parliamentary Assembly by the end of May, and pointed out that there has always been and will always be money for elections.
Tegeltija said that the elections will not depend on financial resources, and that the Central Election Commission (CEC) of BiH is very aggressive on the issue of that money.
“I don’t know what their motives are, but I think they have much more important things in the preparations for the elections than to think about it, such as preparations for voting abroad and the like,” Tegeltija told Glas Srpske.
Tegeltija pointed out that the least responsibility for the fact that the budget of BiH institutions for this year has not been adopted yet is at the Council of Ministers and the Parliament of BiH.
He said that the Ministry of Finance is preparing a draft budget, which he hopes will soon be sent to the BiH Presidency as a formal proposer, and then to the BiH Parliamentary Assembly by the end of May, while further decisions are in parliament.
Tegeltija believes that it is not fair that the CEC mostly sees the Minister of Finance and Treasury Vjekoslav Bevanda as the culprit, accusing him of blocking the budget, and emphasizes that the Council of Ministers is a collective body.
“He alludes to the fact that he is a member of HDZ BiH, a party that is dissatisfied with the Election Law, ie the SDA’s unwillingness to change certain elements, but the CEC’s ideas to provide money from surplus funds from a previous period are unfounded. “I am sure that Minister Bevanda’s goal is neither to block the elections, nor to do anything about that,” Tegeltija said.
Asked whether he believes the elections will be held in October or can be extended this time, like those two years ago, Tegeltija said that everything can be expected from the CEC.
“There are some to whom the elections do not really suit the political rating. If we have decided to go to the polls, at any cost and without changes in the law, then they should be in early October. I believe that will happen and that the CEC will not do what he did in 2020, and I do not believe that changes to the Election Law will be adopted, “Tegeltija said.
He assessed that some political parties are aware that, if the elections are held in October, they will be losers again.
Answering the question whether it will be difficult to form the government after the elections, Tegeltija says that the elections in BiH never ended with their implementation on time, emphasizing that in Republika Srpska everything will be done on time, whoever is the winner, as every time.
“On the other hand, the FBiH government has not been formed since the 2018 elections, the FBiH president and vice presidents have not been elected and no one cares. The Council of Ministers was elected almost a year after the elections, so a very similar situation is expected,” Tegeltija said.
According to him, it should be borne in mind that there is a fourth partner in the election process in BiH, and that is the representatives of the international community, BHRT writes.
