The signatories of the 'Declaration on Constitutional and Other Reforms of BiH on its Path to the European Union and NATO', a movement which includes more than 45 civil society organizations, representatives of the academic community and political organizations, urged Bosnia’s international administrator to refrain from imposing electoral reform two months ahead of the election in the country.
Last week, N1 broke the story that, according to diplomatic sources, High Representative Christian Schmidt plans to use his ‘Bonn Powers’ to impose measures to secure the re-functioning of Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) by August 1. The draft decision contains changes to the Election Law.
RELATED NEWS
“The signatories of the Declaration believe that the adoption of decisions by the OHR regarding changes to the Election Law of BiH after the elections have already been announced is contrary to European democratic practice and tradition. Constitutional and electoral reforms in BiH should be approached after the general elections, not only for the territory of the FBiH but for the entire country of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, the statement says.
The signatories welcomed reforms of the OHR which would improve the integrity of the electoral process in Bosnia and Herzegovina and make it impossible to block the work of FBiH institutions.
They stressed, however, that the OHR's proposals that were made public, especially those related to the introduction of ethnic thresholds in the FBiH cantons in the election of delegates to the FBiH House of Peoples, as well as the changed number of delegates in the election of the FBiH leadership “are not based in European legal documents.”
“They go against the Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms, the final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from Strasbourg, Resolution 1513 of the Council of Europe, the Opinion of the Venice Commission from 2005, and as such are completely unacceptable”, the signatories said.
They pointed out that the OHR should, in its decision-making process, be guided by the most important international documents on human rights and freedoms and that everything contrary to that goes beyond the mandate of the OHR and cannot be accepted in BiH society.
“In case of obstruction of the deadlines prescribed for the election of delegates to the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament as well as executive and judicial bodies in the Federation of BiH, we encourage the OHR to apply the sanctions at its disposal,” they said.
They also strongly criticised Croatia’s policy towards BiH, saying it is “completely contrary to the fundamental principles the European Union rests upon.”
That added that, if the OHR makes decisions that contradict principles of the Declaration, the signatories will “use all available democratic mechanisms, including calling the population to mass public protests to oppose it.”
Kakvo je tvoje mišljenje o ovome?
Budi prvi koji će ostaviti komentar!