The members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) reacted after the decision of the High Representative for BiH, Christian Schmidt, on the financing of the 2022 General Elections in BiH.
Dzaferovic: Schmidt’s decision was forced by the manipulative behavior of the HDZ
The decision of the High Representative of the International Community in BiH, Christian Schmidt, was forced by the manipulative behavior of the HDZ and the Minister of Finance of BiH, Vjekoslav Bevanda, said the Chairman of the Presidency of BiH, Sefik Dzaferovic.
He stated that the HDZ had been announcing for the past year or two that it would try to block the elections, “which has obviously been the case in recent weeks.” According to Dzaferovic, he manipulatively tried to conceal his intentions, through these episodes with a special decision and budget.
”Yesterday, the Minister of Finance proposed a decision which very quickly turned out to be unenforceable and was proposed only as a new obstacle to the elections. I welcome the decision of the High Representative, which was necessary because, otherwise, the HDZ would challenge the basic democratic rights of citizens and because not holding elections would lead to an even bigger crisis in BiH, and no one has the right to do that,”Dzaferovic pointed out yesterday.
He added that the decision will need to be analyzed, but that it is extremely important that it solves future financing and prevents the recurrence of such situations.
”This is precisely the role of the High Representative to complete the system by the end of his term, make it functional, and remove such possibilities of endless blockades and manipulations, through abuses of veto, quorum, and other procedures specific to the Dayton system. As long as there are such holes in the system, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) has a role to play in BiH and deserves full support, and challenging its role is hypocritical and irresponsible,” Sefik Dzaferovic emphasized.
Dodik: Schmidt’s impositions are incredible nonsense
International representatives are trying to impose themselves as a decisive factor in BiH, said BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik in his first reaction, after Christian Schmidt imposed a decision on financing the general elections in BiH.
”Christian Schmidt has no formal appointment, no Bonn authority, and he cannot intervene in BiH,” Dodik said.
In the situation when the Council of Ministers has solved a significant part of that problem, says Dodik, it is obvious that their intention is to impose themselves as a decision-making factor in BiH and thus trample on all democratic institutions, and thus BiH.
Komsic welcomed Schmidt’s decision: Elections are an opportunity to get rid of HDZ’s blockades.
BiH Presidency Member Zeljko Komsic welcomed the High Representative’s decision.
”This decision ultimately represents the victory of the BiH political factor, ie sound political options that played a constructive role with international partners during the long political struggle to hold elections that the HDZ sought to block,” Komsic stated.
He said that “it is important that they did not agree to political blackmail where the blockade of the election process sought to work out an anti-European solution to the detriment of the citizens of BiH.”
”The holding of the October elections is an opportunity for the state political factor to overcome the policies of blackmail and blockades in a democratic and legal way so that they would not have similar problems in the future,” Komsic added.
The High Representative of the International Community in BiH, Christian Schmidt, stated that the Central Election Commission (CEC) of BiH will receive 12.5 million BAM for the conduct of the general elections in October this year.
After the Council of Ministers failed to provide 12.5 million BAM to the CEC to organize general elections, the High Representative in BiH decided to act and use the Bonn powers.
At yesterday’s press conference, Schmidt said that the money adopted by the BiH Council of Ministers the day before yesterday, specifically 9.7 million BAM, is not enough to hold the elections. As he said, after checking the decision of the BiH Council of Ministers, he concluded that it was not good enough and that the planned funds were not enough.
The decision takes effect as soon as it is published on the OHR website, BHRT writes.
E.Dz.
