European Commissioner Johannes Hahn welcomed the decision Bosnia's election commission passed on Tuesday towards the post-election formation of the government.

“I commend the Central Election Commission for taking action that will enable the formation of Federation authorities and call upon all relevant stakeholders to undertake the necessary steps into this direction,” Hahn wrote on his Twitter profile.

CIK decided that seats in the House of Peoples of in Bosnia's Federation entity (FBiH) would be allocated in accordance with the 2013 population census, paving the way for the post-election government formation in this entity shared by two of three major ethnic groups, the Bosniaks and the Croats.

“I encourage all parties to intensify work on finding compromise solution bringing Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to the European Union, not further away,” said the commissioner in charge of neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations.

The long-awaited decision, however, also triggered outrage among political parties, most of whom claim the decision was unconstitutional and that the 1991 population census result should be applied until the post-war return process is declared over.

The final decision on the return process should be made by a top international authority in the country, the Office of the High Representative, which oversees the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords, a treaty that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war.