The Croat National Assembly (HNS), the umbrella organisation of leading Croat political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Tuesday welcomed the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that ordered the holding of local elections in the southern city of Mostar.

The HNS called on Bosniak and Bosnian Serb political parties to ensure that all disputed provisions of electoral legislation on the rights of ethnic groups and individuals were amended.

“The Croat National Assembly fully supports the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, delivered today against the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina because of failure to hold elections in Mostar. The holding of local elections in Mostar is an undeferrable political priority,” the organisation said in a statement.

The ECHR said on Tuesday that the citizens of Mostar were discriminated against by the fact that local elections had not been held in the city since 2008.

In 2010 the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitutional Court, acting on an appeal by Borjana Kristo (HDZ BH), the then president of the Federation, the country's Bosniak-Croat entity, repealed the provisions of election legislation relating to the City of Mostar because of the unequal value of votes in some of the city's districts. Earlier, it was possible for the predominantly Bosniak district Southeast, which has a population of just 6,000, to elect three councillors into the City Council, the same as the Croat-majority district Southwest which has a population of 25,000. The Constitutional Court declared these provisions invalid, but the political parties have failed to agree amendments to election legislation.

“The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights basically confirmed the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitutional Court ruling of 2010 and the appeal previously lodged with the Constitutional Court by Borjana Kristo, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliament, challenging the provisions of the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina which made it possible for the more numerous Bosniaks to elect Croat representatives into the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the statement said.