In six days, the competition for the selection and appointment of one member of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the list of Others, who would succeed Irena Hadžiabdić, will be completed.
The procedure has started, but the continuation is already uncertain. The mandate of the Election and Appointment Commission is questionable, because the BiH House of Representatives did not re-appoint members, as prescribed by the amendments to the Election Law. And, in addition, the practice of purposefully omitting the competent commission in order to replace the ranking list with only one candidate is not new to this house.
The law, rules and Rules of Procedure are clear, the appointment procedure is simple. But the pace is obviously dictated by politics. Thus, the term of office of Irena Hadžiabdić, a member of the CEC of Bosnia and Herzegovina, expired in April 2023, and only almost three years later, a competition was announced to fill this position.
“Nothing was done. If the Selection and Appointment Commission did not announce the public competition from paragraph 5 of this article, the decision to announce the public competition is made by the House of Representatives of the PS,” said the president of the SDA Club in the House of Representatives of the PSBiH Šerif Špago.
The representatives have taken a step, but the competent commission has not yet. They did not even hold a constituent session. And, the problem could also be in the convocation, which lacks a member from the list of Others, but also the fact that the House of Representatives did not appoint new or confirm previously appointed members of the Commission made up of the Collegium of this House, while the HJPC and CEC did. Therefore, the prerequisites for forming a ranking list of candidates for the position in the CEC have not been met for now. However, the Election Law also provided for such a situation.
“Then the House of Representatives can, without any list of candidates, appoint or elect new members of the CEC or possibly re-elect an existing member,” said former member of the CEC BiH Vehid Šehić.
Politically, more favorable circumstances and a greater chance for better control over the institution solely responsible for conducting elections.
“In every country that is far from democratic principles, from the rule of law, it happens that the government tries to control all state institutions, including the CEC. I am speaking from some personal experience, because in the end political parties choose future members of the CEC,” added Šehić.
And, the year is optional. Parties and individuals ready for anything for another mandate. That is why obstructions can be seen in the line of procedure and pronunciation.
“The obstruction related to the election of these new members may be an attempt by the SNSD and HDZ to prevent the introduction of these technologies, because we saw in the previous period that certain companies close to these parties filed appeals in order to delay the implementation of the law on the procurement of these new technologies as much as possible,” says the representative of the List for Justice and Order in the House of Representatives of the PSBiH Nenad Grković.
The HDZ is unavailable for an answer, while the SNSD denies everything, except for the well-known position that the current convocation of the CEC was not appointed by law.
“We cannot be accused of some kind of obstruction. As you know, we are not the majority, the majority in the House of Representatives is quite different, it is obliged and responsible to implement what needs to be implemented,” said SNSD representative Miroslav Vujičić.
As long as the politics are sorted out, the law is clear. If the House of Representatives fails completely and the appointment is not made, in accordance with the amendments to the Election Law, Irena Hadžiabdić will continue to perform her duties until a new member is appointed, however many days, months or years it may take.
