A session of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's (FBiH) entity House of Peoples commenced on Thursday afternoon with a four-hour delay, only to end five minutes later due to the lack of quorum.

The session, where the Proposal of a Law on Constituencies which was submitted by Sarajevo-based parties and which Croat parties strongly objected to, claiming it violates their vital national interest, was not attended by Bosniaks. 

According to FBiH House of Peoples’ Speaker Lidija Bradara, Bosniaks had convened a meeting of their caucus earlier on Thursday but failed to appear at the session scheduled for 13 o'clock.

“We have been waiting the whole day to receive a message from our colleagues from the Bosniak Caucus, and when everyone started losing patience, I went to the hall and concluded there was no quorum,” Bradara told N1.

Four parties – the Democratic Action Party (SDA), the Alliance for Better Future (SBB), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Democratic Front (DF), with support of the Our Party, agreed earlier on a law proposal that defines the geographical constituencies and the number of mandates in the Parliament of the FBiH, Bosnia's entity shared by Bosniaks and Croats, hoping they would solve the current political crisis that hinders the progress of the country.

Bosnia's state-level Election Law has been a burning issue since two years ago when the Constitutional Court ruled that some of its provisions were violating the state Constitution. One of the disputable provisions dictated that the Federation's cantons delegate at least one representative from each of the country's three main ethnic groups to the Federation's House of Peoples.

After the Thursday session was scheduled, Bradara, who is also a member of the Croat Caucus, launched a request for declaring the law proposal detrimental to the vital national interests of Croats.

The vital national interest mechanism is a constitutional measure that the representatives of any of Bosnia's three majority groups may utilise if they decide that a given law or act goes against their national interest. Using the measure, which is effectively a veto power, will halt any such act.

Bradara's request was backed by Deputy Speaker Drago Puzigaca, member of the Serb Caucus, which led to the initiative for his dismissal signed by four other members of his caucus who found the support to Bradara's request disputable.

Bosniak representatives have not given an official explanation for their absence at the session by the time of writing of this article.