Head of the Croat People’s Assembly (HNS) and head of the HNS Main Board sent an open letter to all political actor in Bosnia as well as all Bosnian citizens, asking for the respect for the constituency of peoples at the upcoming October general election.

In a lengthy letter, Dragan Covic and Bozo Ljubic stated that “all the relevant political problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the result of relativization, denials and violations of the principle of mutual equality and constituency of the constituent peoples. The only way to achieve real equality of all citizen in Bosnia is to ensure the constituency and mutual equality of Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs,” they said.  

The two also expressed concern over the fact that “certain political actors in the Bosniak-Croat dominated Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity acted contrary to the Constitution and the Dayton Peace Agreement (that ended the war in Bosnia 1992-1995)” when dealing with the changes of Bosnia’s Election Law.  

They called the attempt by five pro-Bosnian parties in the FBiH Parliament (the Democratic Action party – SDA, the Alliance for Better Future – SBB, the Social Democratic Party – SDP, the Democratic Front – DF and the Our Party – NS) to solve the “Ljubic” decision through the FBiH Parliament, “an entity coup on the state level,” which, according to them jeopardized the constitutional-legal order of Bosnia and violated the state Constitution and the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Four parties – the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Alliance for Better Future (SBB), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Democratic Front (DF), with the support of the Our Party, agreed 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.

Ljubic and Covic called on all Bosnian Croats “to be aware of the value and weight of their vote.” 

“We'd also like to call on all Bosniaks, as well as their political representatives, and send them a strong message that they should respect the principle of legitimate representation of constituent peoples and thus contribute to the building and strengthening of trust among the constituent peoples and the establishment of a legitimate, stable, functional and efficient government in Bosnia,” the HNS representatives concluded.

They also apologised if some Croat moves were interpreted by Bosniaks as a denial of their rights or an attack on their national dignity, but stressed that only with respect to equal constituent representation in the country can Bosnia be a functional stable and prosperous country.