Elections are the right of citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as all other democratic countries, said international community's High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt, stressing that this is why the international community was obliged to ensure the elections are held.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, a day after he used special powers, known as the Bonn powers, and imposed a decision regarding the financing of the 2022 general elections, Schmidt said that he got support of all member states of the Peace Implementation Council.

He recalled that the international community earlier called on the Council of Ministers to timely secure the necessary funds for the elections but the deadline to do that – May 19, has expired which made him react.

High Representative imposes decision to secure financing of elections in Bosnia

“I am happy to say that the Council of Minister decided to allocate the funds on Monday after a long delay, but not the exact amount of 12.5 million marks that the Central Election Commission asked for. Unfortunately, due to all those complications, the printing of ballots would be delayed and that must not happen, which is why I reacted,” explained Schmidt, who is in charge of overseeing the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

The peace deal which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war and introduced the country's Constitution gives the High Representative special powers to impose laws and dismiss officials.

Schmidt denied the comments that his decision was political.

“I am a little surprised that even the officials of the neighbouring countries are making comments. I would rather be happy if presidents of all states and the EU advocated free and regulated elections in every country and that is the topic we are talking about, and this is the context in which I made the decision, while everything else are fantasies and political escapism,” he stressed.

The High Representative said he regretted that the Election Law was not amended, adding that he wished the political parties could reach an agreement on this matter and a compromise that would not discriminate anyone.

Commenting on the position of the Russian Federation regarding his decision and his role in general, Schmidt said that Russia is a member state of the Peace Implementation Council but it suspended itself by not paying the fee and not participating in the PIC sessions.

“I believe that, at the moment, Russia has room to show everyone that it is not a country that is only waging war in Ukraine and pushing other innocent countries into wars, but that it is a country that will take a constructive path again,” he stressed.