One year before the General Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) no one knows for sure whether they will be held under the current or the new Election Law. Even if the parties from the Federation of BiH (FBiH) agree on amendmentsto the Election Law, it is uncertain when they will be adopted due to the blockade of the work of the state parliament. There are fewer and fewer those who believe in optimistic announcements that an agreement could be reached by the end of this year with the mediation of the international community.
Negotiations on changes to the Election Law in past months have been taking place away from the public eye. Officially, an agreement has almost been reached, but details remain unknown. In the meantime, Zeljko Komsic is announcing his candidacy for the presidency next year. Could this announcement be an impulse for the HDZ to ease up in order to reach a compromise?
“I don’t think that his candidacy can speed things up or slow down, but in any case, we have positioned this issue as the priority. I believe that more active involvement of the representatives of the international community can be expected in the upcoming period, which is announced these days, and I do not think in terms of imposing a solution, but speeding up the process and finally resolving this issue, ” told Barisa Colak, deputy for Constitutional and legal issues of the Croatian National Assembly (HNS), HDZ BiH.
Attitudes are harmonized, a compromise can be noticed, are just some of the statements of BiH politicians in the past decade when it comes to changes to the Election Law. The changes themselves are simple in theory, complicated in practice. How to elect members of the Presidency, ie in accordance with the judgment of the Constitutional Court to fill the House of Peoples of the Federal Parliament.
“HDZ insists that they have their representatives, to elect Croats. We can go in that direction, but then you have to give something that will allow the existence of multiethnic parties. If Dodik is such a friend of Mr. Covic, let him agree to an indirect choice, what could he lose?” stated Bakir Izetbegovic, president of the SDA.
By indirectly electing members of the Presidency, BiH would implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Sejdic and Finci and Zornic and Pilav. This way is not acceptable to the ruling party in Republika Srpska(RS), while the opposition advocates an asymmetric approach.
“Why couldn’t the member be elected directly in the RS, and indirectly in the FBiH? That is acceptable for us. Why? With the same powers he will be elected because it will be easier in this way, ” said Mirko Sarovic, president of the SDS.
“The position of the SNSD is clear and from the beginning, we are completely in only one position, and that is that the Serbian member of the Presidency of BiH, more precisely the member of the Presidency from RS is elected only at direct and free elections, and that is something we don’t plan to give up, “pointed out Radovan Kovacevic, SNSD spokesman, BHRT writes.
E.Dz.
