Bosnian Croats sabotage remote decisions of the Central Election Commission of BiH
Having no official status, but enjoying unconditional authority among the national community, the Croatian People's Council of BiH refused to comply with amendments to the federal Election Law, which the country's Central Election Commission decided to adopt in connection with the state of emergency on the eve of the October local elections.
This was reported by Balkan media, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“The Croatian People's Council of BiH considers the decision of the Central Election Commission of BiH completely unacceptable and accordingly rejects it,” the HNS said in a statement. – It is unacceptable for an illegal and illegitimate body to assume powers for which it has no legal basis, acting not in accordance with the jurisdiction of the Central Election Commission, but replacing the executive and legislative authorities.
We consider this behavior inappropriate, especially as Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently facing difficult times as a result of the global pandemic, which has caused the simultaneous failure of the health system and the economy. Accordingly, any initiative, decision, conclusion or other act adopted illegally and by an illegal body cannot be recognized as valid or taken into effect.”
Such a sharp appeal from the Croatian People's Parliament - the de facto parliament of the Bosnian Croats, de jure - simply a public body with advisory functions, since the Dayton agreements did not give the Croatian community its entity in BiH, are associated with the sore point of local elections, which is most acute in areas of compact residence Bosnian Croats.
Thus, the lack of their own autonomous entity does not give the Croats the opportunity to dominate local authorities, since due to the existing electoral system, the parties of Bosnian Muslims - Bosniaks - receive more votes. And also Sarajevo nominees from the Croatian environment, such as the current Croatian member of the BiH Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, who was elected thanks to the votes of Bosniaks and is not recognized by the overwhelming majority of his community as a leader.
Due to the current situation, in recent years it has not been possible to elect municipal authorities in the fifth largest city in the country - Mostar, which Bosnian Croats consider their capital (however, the Croatian community owns only one, the western part of the city, separated by a bridge over the Neretva River).
The Croatian community, which periodically declares the need to establish its own entity, also demands that the existing election law be changed, taking into account ethnic quotas, which, according to its leaders, corresponds to European standards. It got to the point that a representative of the Croatian community of Mostar, Irma Baralja, filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights against the electoral system of BiH, which did not give her the opportunity to be elected to municipal authorities, and won it.
“The election law must be changed in accordance with the decision of the court in Strasbourg,” said the leader of the largest Bosnian Croat party, the Croatian Democratic Party, in January this year during a visit to Brussels and participation in a meeting of the working group of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on the Western Balkans. commonwealth, de facto leader of the community, speaker of the upper house of the Bosnian parliament - the House of Peoples, Dragan Covic. – The changes must be completed by the end of March this year, and the issue of elections in the city of Mostar must also be resolved. Disagreements and misunderstandings must be eliminated.”
Dragan Covic
Čović also stressed that amendments to the Election Law will allow BiH to receive the status of a candidate country at the EU-Western Balkans summit in May 2020 in Zagreb, apparently receiving assurances of support from the Croatian state elite. And these words caused a rather painful and sharp reaction from Sarajevo and the pro-Sarajevo “Democratic Front” Zeljko Komsic, who called Covic a liar, misinforming Brussels on the situation in BiH.
However, the coronavirus epidemic has confused all the cards, changes to the law have not been adopted, the May summit in Zagreb will most likely not take place, and the local October elections are also in jeopardy.
So the day before, on April 9, the Central Election Commission of BiH, having held a remote meeting, decided “in connection with the well-known epidemiological situation in the country” to adopt amendments to the BiH Election Law, introducing into them the concept of “extraordinary circumstances”, which imply “a state of emergency, a state natural disaster" and giving the election commission the right to accept or postpone elections.
“It is also proposed to establish the authority of the CEC to decide on calling and holding elections in accordance with the BiH Election Law, no later than 90 days after the end of emergency circumstances,” the Electoral Commission said in a statement.
It was the threat of postponing the elections that caused sharp rejection by the Croatian People's Council, whose members believed that local elections would be held in October with changes adopted in accordance with the decisions of the European Court. But, apparently, Sarajevo decided to use the coronavirus factor for its own purposes.
“It’s painful to see that there are no children visible on the streets of Mostar,” civil activist Hussein Oruceic commented on the situation of anarchy in the city to a local publication. “Young people are leaving, education is falling apart. People’s patience is running out, in the absence of power there is no one to even solve the issue with the city dump... They will restrain us with the police, they will force us to resign ourselves, but I don’t know who is going to think about pressing problems.”
Bosnian Croats are sabotaging the remote voting decisions of the BiH Central Election Commission.