This morning, the court in Strasbourg passed decision in which it accepted appeal of Ilijaz Pilav.
The complainant, Ilijaz Pilav, is a citizen of BiH, born in 1964 in Srebrenica in Republika Srpska (RS). His complaint is related to the fact that it is legally impossible for him to compete on the elections for the Presidency of BiH. Pilav declares himself as Bosniak, member of one of the constituent peoples in BiH. He is a member of Party for BiH, and he performed several political functions in the RS.
In 2006, he filed candidacy to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for BiH presidency. However, the CEC rejected his application on the basis of the fact that he declares himself as a Bosniak, which is contrary to the Constitution and Election Law of BiH, which prescribe that the candidate for the Presidency of BiH from the RS must be Serb.
Pilav appealed on this decision, but it was rejected and the Constitutional Court dismissed his constitutional complaint in September 2006. Pilav submitted his candidacy again in 2010, but it was rejected once again.
Relaying on the Article 1 of Protocol No.12 (general prohibition of discrimination), Pilav complained that the constitutional prohibition that prevents him from running his candidacy in the elections for the Presidency of BiH on the basis of his national origin is equal to racial discrimination. He also stated that he is prevented from voting for members of his ethnic community for that function, as announced from the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday.
BiH has already lost cases before the European Court because of the discriminatory provisions of the Dayton Constitution, in the case Sejdic – Finci, and Azra Zornic against BiH.
(Source: Radiosarajevo.ba)
