The agreement on the town of Mostar holding its first local election after a 12-year deadlock is a great achievement and the international community is following the developments in the city and will help civil society in their efforts to secure a transparent and fair election, US Deputy Assistant Secretary and Special Representative for the Western Balkans Matthew Palmer said during his visit to Mostar on Thursday.
Mostar will hold its first election since 2008 on December 20, while local elections everywhere else in Bosnia and Herzegovina will take place on November 15.
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The reason behind Mostar not holding an election for 12 years is a 2010 ruling by the country's Constitutional Court ruling in which several parts of the election law regarding Mostar were declared unconstitutional. It was then up to the parliament to change it.
The leaders of Bosnia’s main Bosniak and Bosnian Croat ethnic parties that won the election in 2008 could not agree on how to amend the law for more than a decade. Only recently did the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) and Bosnia’s Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) finally reach an agreement on the issue.
Palmer called the agreement a “great achievement” and a “positive step for democratic development and progress,” and emphasised the need for the election to take place according to the highest democratic standards.
He also stressed the importance of locals voting and announced that he would meet with local youth to incite them to do so.
He said his visit to Mostar represents a signal that the international community is following the developments in the city and that the US, EU and OSCE are working on supporting civil society in their efforts to secure monitoring of the election process and that they will remain committed to helping the winners of the election set up the local government and work for the benefit of the citizens.
Palmer met with the three members of Bosnia’s Presidency, as well as with lawmakers, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Prime Ministers of Bosnia’s two semi-autonomous entities on Wednesday.
Special Representative Palmer and Amb Nelson met with the Mostar City Election Commission, Pod Lupom, and CCI and discussed the importance of conducting a free, fair, and transparent election in Mostar. pic.twitter.com/WAsfPKaWF0
— US Embassy Sarajevo (@USEmbassySJJ) September 10, 2020
