This move comes only a few days after the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the previous Government of Republika Srpska, headed by Savo Minić, unconstitutional.
Eleven members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina have submitted an appeal to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, seeking resolution of a constitutional dispute concerning the election of the Government of Republika Srpska.
The appeal was filed by representatives of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Democratic Front (DF) in the House of Representatives. It challenges the authority of the acting President of Republika Srpska, Ana Trišić-Babić, to nominate Savo Minić as Prime Minister-designate of the Republika Srpska Government.
The appellants are also requesting the Constitutional Court to issue an interim measure that would prohibit the current Government of Republika Srpska from adopting any decisions until the dispute is resolved.
This appeal follows only days after the Constitutional Court ruled that the previous Republika Srpska Government, also led by Minić, was unconstitutional.
Legal experts have been warning for some time that the newly appointed Republika Srpska Government is substantively unconstitutional as well, precisely because the Prime Minister-designate was nominated by Trišić-Babić.
According to the Constitution of Republika Srpska, if the President is temporarily prevented from performing his duties, he is to be replaced by one of the Vice-Presidents, designated by the President himself.
The Constitution does not provide for any other method of appointing a person to replace the President, nor does it grant the National Assembly of Republika Srpska the authority to appoint such a person. Additionally, the Constitution does not recognize the institution of an acting President.
As a result, the constitutionality of Trišić-Babić’s appointment has been called into question following Milorad Dodik’s resignation from the position of President of Republika Srpska, which occurred after a final verdict by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The National Assembly cannot, in a constitutional manner, appoint a third person as Acting President of the Republic. It may only appoint one of the Vice-Presidents of Republika Srpska,” legal expert Milan Blagojević previously stated.
