Bosnia's election authority accused of violating Constitution and voters' rights over 2026 presidential ballot

Speaking at a Circle 99 session titled "CEC's attack on the constitutional order", Zornic said she had filed an appeal with the Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Article 6.9 of the country's Election Law.

The appeal concerns the CEC decision on the design and content of the ballot paper for the election of members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite Presidency. The decision was adopted on July 23 but, according to Zornic, was not published until August 4, despite her request submitted on July 27.

Zornic alleged that the CEC deliberately delayed publication in order to gain time to print and distribute what she described as unconstitutional ballots.

Zornic: Constitutional terminology was changed

"The decision is unconstitutional for several key reasons. First, the CEC violated Article 5.14, paragraph 3 of the Election Law of BiH by changing constitutional terminology. The ballot lists 'Bosniak', 'Croat' and 'Serb member' using adjectives, while the Constitution of BiH (Article V) and the law explicitly use nouns: 'a Bosniak', 'a Croat' and 'a Serb'. This semantic manipulation has no basis in law and shifts the mandate from the person to the office," Zornic said.

She also disputed the way the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the country's two entities, was treated for electoral purposes.

"Second, the CEC illegally divided the single electoral constituency of the Federation of BiH into sections 701 and 702, thereby violating Article 8.1 of the Election Law of BiH. The law defines the Federation of BiH as a whole for the election of the Presidency, while such a numerical division is purely a political decision with no legal basis," she said.

Appeal rejected as inadmissible

Zornic described the response of the Court of BiH's Appellate Division as politically motivated, claiming that the judges did not consider the merits of the case but, following a suggestion from the secretary general, rejected her appeal as inadmissible.

According to Zornic, the court stated that "the CEC BiH decision was adopted as a general administrative act... against which an administrative dispute cannot be initiated, and which did not violate anyone's rights."

She rejected that reasoning.

"The claim that no appeal can be lodged against such a decision and that no administrative dispute can be initiated is absurd. The decision was signed by the President of the Judicial Council, Judge Zvjezdana Antonovic. I wonder, how can a ballot paper be a 'general administrative act' when it is a document available to all voters in an election and adopted under the authority of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH? Classifying the decision as an act that cannot be challenged serves only to prevent legal protection, conceal its unconstitutionality and legitimise violations of voters' rights through procedural tricks," Zornic said.

Appeal to the Constitutional Court

Zornic said that, given the circumstances and her inability to obtain legal protection through regular legal avenues, she decided to approach politicians who have standing to submit a request for a constitutional review of the disputed decision before the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to her, the only politician who immediately and unconditionally accepted the proposal was Zlatko Miletic, a delegate in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"As the Court's rules require the signatures of at least four delegates from that chamber for the request to be considered at all, Mr Miletic called on fellow delegates to sign it. However, faced with a lack of support from his colleagues, he was unable to secure the consent of a fourth delegate," Zornic said.

Circle 99 President Adil Kulenovic described the case as a "silent administrative attack by the CEC on the constitutional order", arguing that at this point only the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina can stop it.

He called on political representatives to sign and submit the prepared request to the Constitutional Court.

"We demand that political representatives who swear by Bosnia and Herzegovina immediately sign and submit the prepared request to the Constitutional Court of BiH. You no longer have the right to make excuses or hide. Prevent a fait accompli and the legalisation of unconstitutional practices and electoral engineering in favour of ethno-nationalist patterns that guarantee them ethnic legitimacy, predictable votes and the further division of the country. Accepting this would mean the further fascisation of society," Kulenovic said.