The local election in the southern city of Mostar must take place on the same day as everywhere else in the country since this is what the main Bosniak and Croat parties agreed on, Bosnian Croat politician Bozo Ljubic told N1 on Friday as he complained about a decision by the Central Election Commission (CEC) to postpone the Mostar vote.
This will be the first local election in Mostar in 12 years, since the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) recently finally came to an agreement on how to change the election law regarding Mostar in accordance with a 2010 Constitutional Court ruling.
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The local election in Bosnia will take place on November 15, but the CEC postponed the election for Mostar to December 20.
Ljubic said that the agreement between the SDA and HDZ BiH specifically states that the election in Mostar will take place as everywhere else across the country and that the intervention by the CEC goes against that agreement.
“At this moment, the credibility of all actors, both domestic and international, in the agreement is being tested,” he said. “I believe, although I cannot know this, that the elections in Mostar will be held at the same time as elections in the rest of the country,” he said.
But he added that the very fact that the CEC “illegally” postponed the election creates “fears and speculations” that it could enable some political actors to “manipulate during the voter re-registration process.”
The Croat National Assembly (HNS), an organisation made up of Bosnian Croat parties which Ljubic is a member of, has also complained about the composition of the CEC.
Ljubic argued that the CEC members were not named in accordance with the rules and questioned its legality.
