The list of those who refused mandates and who won a large number of votes in the General Elections is long. Most of them were at the top of the election lists. This practice is repeated every election year because the laws allow it. Currently, there are no legal regulations that would prevent this. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), at the moment, more than 150 officials perform double functions.
Voted for one, but mandates for others. This is an established practice in BiH. Candidates are first nominated, and then the mandates are rejected. There are many examples. The President of the SBiH Semir Efendic refused a position in the Canton Sarajevo (CS) Assembly twice, in 2018, and then also in this mandate. As Efendic explained, he aspires to the position of Prime Minister of CS or, possibly, a ministerial position, if there is a stable majority. After refusing a seat in the Assembly of the Una-Sana Canton (USC) in 2018, Suhret Fazlic accepted a mandate in the Assembly in these elections, so a new mayor will soon be elected in Bihac. A new mayor of Vogosca will also be elected since the current mayor Edin Smajic has accepted a mandate in the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament. The mayor of Tuzla, Jasmin Imamovic, is still thinking about accepting or possibly rejecting the mandate.
”I have a good team of associates and at least three or four of my associates can do this job well. People may have gotten used to me, I’m thinking about that possible transition, if I accept the mandate, and about staying, if I don’t,” Imamovic explains.
”Now I said that I will accept the mandate and that my goal is to enter the Assembly and be the Prime Minister of the Canton. I think that some things that were done earlier were not done well. I pointed out in the campaign what was wrong, I pointed out what should be done better,” Fazlic says.
The morals and own promises of local politicians are now being put to the test again, as the question arises as to who will justify the trust of the citizens who have been deceived and tricked. Analysts are of the opinion that parties consciously nominate strong politicians in leading positions precisely to achieve election results. And all of this has become the subject of manipulations and abuses that must finally be resolved, as they say, by changes to the Election Law and the Law on Conflict of Interest.
”These things should be prevented through interventions in the legal framework, this should be one of the things that will be dealt with by all those who deal with electoral legislation in the future and the Law on Conflict of Interest, but I think that we should insist on the responsibility of political parties,” political analyst Adnan Huskic believes.
”No problem, let them run for a seat in the legislative branch, but before that, they should step down or resign from a seat in the executive branch,” says communication expert Mladen Bubonjic.
Previously, there were cases and initiatives to put an end to double functions in such a way as to prohibit candidacy for one election cycle. Likewise, a year ago, albeit in the House of Representatives of the state parliament, amendments to the Electoral Law were adopted, which provided for the abolition of the dual functions of elected officials. However, these changes did not receive the support of the HDZ and SNSD delegates in the House of Peoples. Since 2013, there has been no body in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) that can determine the conflict of interest, so all this goes on without adequate and concrete sanctions, BHRT reports.
E.Dz.
