Parties gathered around the Croat National Assembly (HNS) will file an appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding the Central Election Commission’s (CIK BiH) instruction on the distribution of mandates in the FBiH House of Peoples, said the head of the HNS, Dragan Covic. Earlier, the Democratic Action Party (SDA) filed an appeal, and the Court’s next session was scheduled for January 31.
Even though the HNS said last week they would accept the CIK BiH’s decision, Covic seems to have changed his mind.
“We believe that only the lawmaker can amend the Election Law and that lawmaker is the Parliament. Some think we profited by the CIK BiH’s decision, but that’s not true,” Covic said. “Our expectations are not big, but it’s important that we send a message that we’re dissatisfied.”
Bosnia’s Central Election Commission said on Tuesday that mandates in the Parliament of the Bosniak-Croat Federation (FBiH) entity will be distributed according to the 2013 census and not the one from 1991, as stipulated by the Constitution.
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The HNS added they are dissatisfied with the fact that there are not many Croats in cantonal governments where Bosniak make the majority.
“We only want Bosnia to function as a state, which is not the case, now. We will encourage our Bosniak friends to change what they’re doing,” Covic noted. “This is a continuation of ethnic cleansing through other means.”
He was also clear that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity government would not be formed until the Election Law is amended.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in December 2009 that Bosnia's constitutional provisions on the election for the state House of Peoples and the Presidency violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
The plaintiffs were two Bosnian nationals, Dervo Sejdic, a Roma, and Jakob Finci, a Jew, who were unable to run in the election for the Presidency as a result of the 1995 Constitution that was created as a part of the Dayton peace treaty, which ended the 1992-95 war in the country.
Bosnian authorities were unable to find a solution to date.
