The five Bosniak and opposition parties from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity taking part in the negotiations on Bosnia’s Election Law reached an agreement on a Draft Law on Electoral Units and the Number of FBIH Parliamentary Mandates.
The parties are: the Democratic Action Party (SDA), the union for a Better Future (SBB), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Democratic Front (DF) and the Our Party (Nasa Stranka) offered their support to the Draft. One of the main negotiators in the Election Law change, the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), however, did not take part in these negotiations.
“Representatives of these five parties agreed on the text of the Law which is completely in line with the FBiH Constitution and which fulfils the principles of the Ljubic ruling. It is also harmonized with the recommendations of the Venice Commission,” Head of SDP’s Caucus in the FBiH Parliament Elvir Karajbic told N1.
He said the Draft Law was not directed against anyone, but enables all FBiH citizens to elect and be elected in the FBiH Parliament and it equalizes the vote value.
“It is unacceptable that a mandate from Sarajevo requires three times as many votes as the mandate from some other part of the FBiH,” Karajbic concluded.
He added that this Law removes such discrimination for the first time in 20 years.
“We call upon the HDZ BiH to support this Draft Law because the current Law which is in force provides no possibility for any other solution,” Karabajic said.
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In December 2016, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) ruled partially in favour of a complaint lodged by former Croat Democratic Union politician Bozo Ljubic. At issue was the state election law provision dictating that cantons delegate at least one representative from each of the country’s three main ethnic groups to the Federation BiH (FBiH) entity House of Peoples. Ljubic argued that the Croat influence in cantons with majority Bosniak populations was unfairly diminished in the selection of delegates.
The Court partially agreed with Ljubic. The ruling struck down a portion of Bosnia’s Election Law, stating that it must be amended within six months, without specifying changes.
