The president of the Foundation ”Shared Societies and Values” and former president of the SDP, Zlatko Lagumdzija, sent a letter to High Representative Christian Schmidt, in which he criticized his proposal for changes to the Election Law, calling it a “spooky model”.
He told him that he must keep in mind, as he pointed out, several facts, before possibly imposing the Election Law, for which Lagumdzija assessed that it would be a wind at the back for SDA, SNSD, HDZ and DF – the ruling parties at the state level. He explained why he decided to write a letter.
“Because the high representative must know some important things that happened in the previous three decades. It is not enough to see all this as if the world started to turn with the arrival of any, as well as the last high representative in Sarajevo, especially when he realized so quickly that we are dealing here with politicians who are like ‘rubbish’ and not with responsible and serious statesmen? Because I see that HDZ and Croatia have done a good job on the international stage in order to ‘sell’ arguments, which ultimately lead to further radicalization of the political scene and division of the country. Because those who ‘defend’ the country are either not competent for their job or have intentions that they are not ready to admit publicly,” wrote Lagumdzija.
He emphasized that he must turn his attention to the attempt, as he stated, to revive the Washington Agreement, as a solution to the newly created problems surrounding the Electoral Law.
Namely, he thinks that it is more important to return to reality, that is, to the future, and to recall what he called a key fact, namely that the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) five years after the war made a decision on the constitutionality of the entire territory of the state. He reminded that this resulted in changes to entity constitutions and the abolition of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) as an entity of Bosniaks and Croats, and the Republika Srpska (RS) as an entity of Serbs.
He called Schmidt’s proposal for changes to the Electoral Law a “spooky model.”
“Unfortunately, like a genie from a bottle, a model appears in front of us, which no one has seen yet, and which is currently visible from media appearances. It is evident that it represents an introduction to an even greater crisis, the breakdown of the country and the segregation of the civilized world which was not seen in recent history, and that this ‘spooky model’ is based on three principles. First, let’s go back to the Washington Agreement as if this were the situation from 30 years ago and that a federation of two constituent nations is being created, while the RS is ‘left’ to the Serbs. Second, let’s get rid of the Bosnian buffet and implement the Ljubic judgment according to a one-sided interpretation, as if other more important and precise judgments on discrimination do not exist. Third, let’s forget that the FBiH has cantons that should have the influence given to them by the federal structure itself, and in which they are represented directly through the representatives they elect to the FBiH Parliament”, stated Lagumdzija.
Also, he told domestic politicians that they should have serious and substantive discussions with international officials, whom he said were creating a new electoral straitjacket. Instead, as he observed, they are addressing potential voters and preparing to attack the possibly imposed decision they produced by (in)action.
Lagumdzija told the high representative that his letter was not an invitation to stop serious changes to the Election Law.
“On the contrary. What is absolutely unacceptable is to declare elections, conclude the candidate lists and then think about how to change the election rules, which will significantly change the way the results are implemented and the constitution of the executive and legislative authorities. I doubt that in a decisive football match, it would occur to anyone to decide at halftime that the second half should continue on the basketball court,” he added.
He believes that it is commendable that the technical elements of the Election Law are being improved in order to prevent the theft of votes and strengthen the integrity of elections. He assessed that a lot can still be done in the remaining five to six weeks until the elections.
