BiH Constitutional Court rules Republika Srpska entity government proposed by Dodik unconstitutional

Following a two-day session, the court concluded that all disputed decisions adopted between 2 September 2025 and 18 January 2026 were contrary to Articles I/2 and III/3(b) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The court found that the government was appointed on the basis of a decision proposing a prime ministerial candidate signed by Dodik on 23 August 2025, despite the fact that his mandate as president of Republika Srpska had legally expired on 12 June 2025, the date when a final verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina entered into force.

That verdict resulted in the termination of Dodik’s presidential mandate, a fact later formally confirmed in proceedings before the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK BiH).

The Constitutional Court ruled on a request submitted by 11 members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first deputy speaker of the House of Peoples, and an additional 11 MPs, seeking a constitutional review and the resolution of a dispute between the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the RS entity.

The challenge concerned the decisions on the appointment of the RS prime minister and government members, as well as decisions on their early entry into force, all published in the Official Gazette of Republika Srpska.

The court found that the case raised a constitutional dispute over whether Dodik could lawfully exercise presidential authority to nominate the RS government in light of binding decisions by the Court of BiH and the CIK. This, the court said, directly engages the principle of the rule of law, guaranteed under Article I/2 of the Constitution.

Additionally, the court stressed that the case involved the obligation to respect decisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions, as stipulated in Article III/3(b) of the Constitution, placing the matter squarely within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court.