Seventy days by law, and almost 500 days in practice. There can be such a difference between the prescribed deadline for the formation of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the actual waiting for state power. After the elections, the first talks began, but instead of an agreement on a majority, old political disputes and new demands came to the fore. Will it happen again in 2010 or 2018 and what could be the biggest stumbling block this time?
The elections are over, the negotiations have begun, but the agreement on the new government is still a long way off. Dragan Čović spoke with Nermin Nikšić, Bakir Izetbegović, and then with Milorad Dodik. From those meetings, it is clear that first the issue of partners must be resolved, and then the conditions under which the new majority could function.
MILORAD DODIK, president of SNSD
“The moment when the political will of the Bosniak people is constituted, in the sense of who it is. I do not enter the federal level of constitution of the government. That will be done by Dragan with his partners. But I reserve the right to choose partners at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Those who were offended by Republika Srpska certainly cannot get there.”
DRAGAN ČOVIĆ, president of HDZ BiH
“We will have to sit down and find a solution. As far as we are concerned, we care about who is in that Bosniak capacity because they share power together.”
The law provides steps and deadlines. The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the constitution of the House of Representatives, proposes a representative within 15 days. The mandate holder then has 35 days to propose ministers and deputies, while a deadline of 70 days is provided for the completion of the process. But the law does not mean that politicians agree within that period. There is no automatic mechanism for breaking it that would force them to reach an agreement.
DAVOR TRLIN, professor of constitutional law
“There are no sanctions, simply no sanctions. The Law on the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not foresee any legal sanctions or consequences, neither dissolution nor early elections, nor automatic dismissal if the deadlines are exceeded.”
That is why the history of the formation of the government in Bosnia and Herzegovina is much longer than the legal procedure. In the last five election cycles, before this one, the longest wait was after the 2010 election. Almost 500 days passed from the election to the formation of the Council of Ministers. Faster agreements were reached in 2006, 2014 and 2022, while after the 2018 elections, it took more than a year to confirm the new government.
Behind the long wait were not administrative problems, but political disputes. After the 2010 elections, the partners could not reach an agreement on the distribution of Croatian positions. A similar scenario followed the 2018 elections. At that time, the biggest problem was the attitude towards NATO and the sending of the Annual National Program. SDA insisted on sending the document, while Dodik refused. The way out was found in the document called “Reform Program of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, and Zoran Tegeltija was confirmed as the chairman of the Council of Ministers in December 2019.
And what could stop the negotiations now? The first meeting of HDZ and SNSD opened the cards.
