The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg decided in the judgment in the case of Slaven Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina that the delegates to the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH must be elected from the territory of the entire state of BiH.
This was published by the “istraga.ba” portal, stating that the court decided that the legitimate representation is discriminatory, and the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be elected on the territory of the entire country, and not from the entities. BiH Presidency – one electoral unit, House of Peoples PS BiH – one electoral unit. No entities.
This is the essence of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of Slaven Kovačević v. BiH, and the official publication of the judgment should be by the end of this month.
Slaven Kovačević, currently an advisor to the Chairman of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić, addressed the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, stating that his right is threatened because as a Bosnian and Herzegovinian from Sarajevo, he cannot decide on the election of a member of the BiH Presidency from among the Serbian people, nor can to be a delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Kovačević was discriminated against in both cases.
The court found that the current political system of BiH has made ethnic representation more important than political, economic-social and other issues, and has strengthened ethnic divisions in the state and undermined the democratic character of elections, and that “constituent nations are privileged”.
The European Court of Human Rights found that the combination of territorial and ethnic claims constitutes discriminatory treatment in violation of Article 1 of Protocol no. 12 in the context of the right to participate in the elections for the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the same applies to the right to vote in the elections for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In short, the court states that the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina are undemocratic.
The court paid special attention to the competences of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. The judges state that the existence of the House of Peoples of the PS BiH would be acceptable if the powers of the House of Peoples were limited to the precisely defined vital national interest of the constituent peoples, and not to the approval of all laws. In the judgment, the court proposes several solutions for the House of Peoples.
The first solution is to reduce the powers of the House of Peoples. Another possible solution is to abolish the House of Peoples and protect ethnic interests within the House of Representatives. The third solution is to keep the House of Peoples in its current form while allowing all citizens to participate in its work.
The court also states that representatives of the people in the House of Peoples must represent members of that people from the entire territory of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not just its individual parts.
The Belgian model is also proposed, according to which the citizens would vote first, and only then would the elected representatives decide in which people’s club they would participate.
As stated by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, ethnicity cannot and must not prevail in political representation, noting that it must be secondary.
