Bosnia's Presidency Chairman Bakir Izetbegovic told the EU Delegation Head that Bosnian political leaders missed the chance to amend the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) rejected the proposal of the international community representatives for a temporary solution.
Speaking to Head of EU Delegation to Bosnia Lars-Gunnar Wigemark Izetbegovic touched upon the continuation of the reform process in Bosnia and changes to the state Election Law.
Bakir Izetbegovic told Wigemark that there was a readiness to accept the temporary solution proposed by the international community members who hosted a meeting with party leaders from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity after countless earlier meetings failed before.
During the meeting, the foreign diplomats and the Venice Commission, accompanied by Wigemark and the US Ambassador to Bosnia Maureen Cormack proposed that the leaders adopt a temporary solution in order not to threaten the outcome of the October general election, but the HDZ BiH rejected that possibility.
With the proposal rejected, Izetbegovic said that this opportunity is now wasted. Because of this, a bloc of five parties in the FBiH Parliament was forced to create a solution which would overcome the crisis in the implementation of election results and government formation in the FBiH.
The five Bosniak and opposition parties from the FBiH 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.
Izetbegovic said that the offered solution for the Formation of the FBiH Parliament takes the Bosnian Constitutional Court's decision into consideration and that it is in line with the FBiH Constitution. As such, it should be acceptable to all parties.
Wigemark informed Izetbegovic of the Joint Commission's report for the local authorities, financed by the EU. The report analyses the functioning of the local authorities in Bosnia, offering recommendations on what to do to harmonize their standards with EU standards.
Two years ago the Constitutional Court ruled that some provisions of the Election Law were inconsistent with the state Constitution. Since then the authorities have failed to act in the legally allowed timeframe resulting in a further court ruling to delete two sections of the Election Law that treats the matter of representation in the FBiH House of Peoples.
