Agreement on Mostar election close

Representatives of nine major Parliamentary parties based in Mostar held the sixth round of negotiations on the modalities of the election of councillors to the Mostar City Council from six constituencies.

“We agreed on the amendments to the Election Law, but we all concluded that we won't make any statements to the press this time until the agreement on amendments to the City Statute is made,” said Mahmut Trcalo, Head of the Democratic Front party's City Board.

He added that they agreed that representatives of all political parties should come with written proposals for amendments to the City Statute, at the next meeting, and then they should decide on the specific article that must be changed in order to hold the election in Mostar.

In 2010, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a decision ordering that Bosnia's Election Law and the Mostar City Statute must be amended, because the Statute violates the basic democratic principle of 'one man – one vote.'

The earlier attitudes of the Democratic Action Party (SDA) and the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) as the biggest parties in the City Council differ. SDA say that the Statute should be amended prior to holding the election in Mostar, while HDZ BiH say that they see nothing wrong in holding the election first and then changing the City Statute.