After the Working Group for Election and Appointment of the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) interviewed the candidates for the new judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH, it is also known who the best-ranked candidates are.
Who are the best candidates and what does the continuation of the procedure look like?
As we learn, the best-rated candidates are Sanela Gorusanovic-Butigan and Marin Vukoja.
Gorusanovic-Butigan is a judge of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo and a member of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH.
Marin Vukoja is the secretary of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament. In his official biography, he stated that he was a civil servant and secretary of the Government of the West Herzegovina Canton (WHC) and the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament until 2015. What is important is that there are claims that he is close to the HDZ.
The commission of the House of Representatives supported Vukoja as the best candidate with the majority of votes, while Gorusanovic-Butigan was ranked second.
However, regardless of the ranking list, the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament does not have to vote for the first-ranked candidate, so there is a theoretical possibility that the Trojka parties will support the Gorusanovic-Butigan.
It would be naive to believe that there is no strong political background for the election of a new judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH, especially since the proposal of the Commission is Marin Vukoja.
Therefore, the question arises whether the HDZ, with the new parliamentary majority in the FBiH, has gained the political strength to condition its partners and demand that they vote for Vukoja, justifying it by him being first on the list.
Komsic cases and all future requests
Although the public could hear that the election of someone close to the HDZ could favor the outcome of the decision of the Constitutional Court at the request of the member of the BiH Presidency Zeljko Komsic when it comes to the imposed decisions of the high representative in BiH on the FBiH Constitution and the Election Law of BiH, this is not possible.
Namely, in making a decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH, only a judge who was present at the session where the discussion on the case in which the decision is made can take part.
The danger of electing to judicial positions persons who are associated with political parties lies in the fact that if such a person is elected, he or she will remain in the position of judge of the Constitutional Court until the age of seventy. Unfortunately, this was inevitable in the past in our political climate.
Since the strong currents of nationalist political parties in BiH do not have the same view of this country in the future, it is dangerous that their branches contained in the image and work of potential judges decide on the constitutionality of certain decisions, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.