In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), even civil servants can be candidates for political parties in elections. Legal solutions do not explicitly prohibit such action anywhere, because every citizen of BiH has the right to vote and be elected.
The Electoral Law of BiH stipulated that candidates for public electoral office can be judges, prosecutors, advocates, notaries, police officers, civil servants, auditors general, the governor of the Central Bank, soldiers, members of the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA), and persons with diplomatic status, but only if they resign from their position beforehand.
Article 19 of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) Civil Service Law determines incompatibilities with the duties of a civil servant in such a way that:
”A civil servant, with the exception of managerial civil servants, may return to the same or similar position in the same or another civil service body no later than one month after the occurrence of the following cases: failure in the elections, end of mandate and termination of office in the legislative or executive body at any level of government in the FBiH.”
A civil servant can become an adviser and then resign from the moment his candidacy for an elective position is confirmed or from the moment he is appointed to a position in any legislative or executive body at any level of government.
In order to clarify the legal provisions that regulate the candidacy of civil servants in elections in BiH, Izmir Hadziavdic, the secretary of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the FBiH, was interviewed and said that it is enough for civil servants to have a signed agreement with their manager so that they can return to their own or a similar workplace after the mandate. How can a civil servant, who must not follow the instructions of political parties, be their candidate in the elections?
”The civil service law states that they must refrain from highlighting their political affiliation. Leading civil servants, assistants, secretaries, directors of agencies, directorates, institutes, and those who go on the lists must resign from the civil service. Definitely. Civil servants from expert advisors downwards do not have to resign, they can make an agreement with the civil service authority to return to the same or a similar position after the end of their mandate,” Hadziavdic pointed out.
He states that it is not an obstacle that the official will join a political party during the mandate, and that he does not have to run as an independent candidate, as well as that there are many examples of such situations in BiH because there is no explicit prohibition of such actions in the law.
Is it really possible for one person to be a civil servant and completely independent for eight hours every day, and then a member of a political party? It is not unknown that it is precisely the political parties that urge or directly instruct the heads of institutions about who the agency for the civil service will select at competitions, and work in the public administration and the positions of civil servants are often the most sought-after occupations.
Once on a budget, forever on a budget. The question just arises. How fair is such a possibility of solving the labor-legal statute for all those who run in the elections in uncertainty, without the possible salvation of their job in the civil service that awaits them, regardless of the election result or the quality of the work they do during the term of office?, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
