IŠERIĆ ANALYSIS: For Ivo Komšić, Bosniaks are 'undecided', and in Croatia, which was the aggressor, we should seek partners in the West!

By: Dr. sc. Enver Išerić/NAP.BA

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Comments on the election results in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their political and legal analyses are not subsiding. Also, the implementation of election results, or possible coalitions, is being discussed day after day, both at the top of political parties and among the "common people." Discussions are taking place on the streets, in pubs, cafes, barbershops, workplaces, trams, etc.
Well, these facts indicate that something is not right here. What is not right? Nothing is right in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the moment Bosnia and Herzegovina was attacked from the east and west, through the adoption of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as Annex 4 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, to the decisions of the High Representative that amended the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Election Law.

I have previously written and spoken about the good and bad aspects of Schmidt's decisions, and there are both, as well as issues that the High Representative did not resolve with his decisions. And just when I thought I had nothing more to say about it, Dr. Ivo Komšić refuted my opinion by appearing on FACE TV on November 18, 2022.

First of all, I must say that I greatly appreciate and respect Dr. Ivo Komšić for everything he has done in and for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but that does not mean I should and must say AMEN to everything he says, especially not to what he stated on the aforementioned TV.

One of Ivo Komšić's statements was that Schmidt's decision definitively prevented the creation of a third electoral unit and that the "Ljubić" verdict was implemented. It is true that the Ljubić verdict was implemented, but it is not true that the third electoral unit was prevented. The third electoral unit for electing delegates to the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not only precisely defined and described within its boundaries. Doors have been left ajar, so that delegates who are not from that "majority electoral unit" can also enter the House of Peoples. And let's be clear, Mr. Komšić, this does not only apply to Croats and areas where Croats are the majority. It is the same for Bosniaks and Serbs and areas where they are the majority.

Your claim, Professor Komšić, that Schmidt's decision did not benefit the HDZ, but benefited the SDA, is incorrect. Schmidt's decision, Mr. Komšić, benefited areas with a majority population of any constituent nation. That is the real truth. And this deepens ethnic divisions. And increasing the number of delegates in the House of Peoples did not give civil parties a greater chance. Quite the opposite happened. The formula by which the number of delegates from each canton is calculated shows this. And when all this is implemented according to that formula, all decisions in the House of Peoples, or its clubs, can be made by delegates from cantons where certain nations are the majority. And civil parties, if we are to speak frankly, are in cantons with a Bosniak majority. That is why Dr. Komšić praised the level of democracy among Bosniaks. The more parties among Bosniaks, the more democracy in the Bosniak corpus.

Bosniaks do not need legitimate representation!? From a legal perspective, I have no major objections to the election of delegates to the House of Peoples. Why? Because everyone, at least formally, has the opportunity to be elected. Vital national interests are decided in the House of Peoples, and let delegates from each nation protect those national rights in the way the Constitution of the Federation prescribes.

My objection is that Mr. Schmidt applied the 2013 census to the election of delegates, thereby cementing ethnic cleansing and appropriately closing the door to the return of displaced and expelled persons. By that principle, the same should have been applied to the composition of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, one more very important question for Dr. Komšić: How is it normal for him that the SDA is excluded from power, because, as he says, Bosniaks punished Bakir Izetbegović, while Komšić claims that the HDZ cannot be bypassed because Croats gave the greatest support to the HDZ?

Here, Mr. Komšić has confused two important things. The civic and national concept. And in the same House of Representatives, or the House of Citizens. For the HDZ, he applies the national principle and the principle of "legitimate" representation, while for the SDA, he applies civic concepts with different standards, or conditions for entering power. If Bosniaks punished Bakir Izetbegović, then Croats also punished Dragan Čović, because Borjana Krišto did not win. And neither is true, because, Professor Komšić, neither Bosniaks voted for Bakir Izetbegović, nor did Croats vote for Borjana Krišto. Citizens vote for members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Professor. I have spoken about this before, that no one is indispensable in forming a majority in the House of Representatives. Everyone can be bypassed there, Professor. Both SDA and HDZ. Regardless of their election results.

However, the claim that the HDZ is indispensable is illogical and incorrect. There is no legitimate representation in the House of Representatives! Only "civil" parties can be in the Parliamentary majority, which Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik call Bosniak or Muslim parties. Only in the government is a certain number of seats guaranteed for the constituent nations. And those candidates are proposed by the political parties that form the parliamentary majority.

Professor Komšić also stated that the House of Representatives decides on the election of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Federation, which is not true. Both houses decide on this, the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. Also, the claim by Professor Komšić or other interpreters of Schmidt's decisions, who claim that the number of delegates decreases from 11 to 7 if the election is not held in the first round, is not true. This reduction in numbers only occurs when a specific club does not propose candidates within the given deadline, as prescribed by Amendment CXX of the Decision on Amending the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

"(2) If, within 30 days from the date of confirmation of the results for the election of delegates to the House of Peoples, the required number of delegates in one or more clubs of constituent peoples does not propose candidates for the positions of President and two Vice-Presidents of the Federation in accordance with paragraph (1) of this article, then any group of seven delegates from the club or clubs of constituent peoples in the House of Peoples that have not proposed candidates will do so."

The professor also stated that a positive aspect of Schmidt's decision is that cantonal assemblies must elect delegates within a certain period. This is also true. However, it is not true that mandates are taken away from cantonal deputies, because Article 4 of the Decision on Amending the Election Law stipulates: "(2) If, within the period provided for in paragraph (1) of this article, the cantonal assembly does not elect delegates from one or more constituent peoples or from the Others to the House of Peoples of the Parliament of BiH, the seats allocated to the relevant constituent peoples and/or the group of Others from that canton will be redistributed in accordance with Article 10.16 of this law."

However, Dr. Komšić's statement that Bosniaks should decide whether they are for Russia or for the West was frightening to me. Just tell us, Professor Komšić, what should Bosniaks do to make it clear what we are committed to. Who, Professor, blocked state institutions and was, and still is, against fulfilling the criteria for Bosnia and Herzegovina's entry into the European Union and NATO, and who genuinely advocated for it? You don't mean to suggest, Professor, that Bosniaks were against joining the European Union and NATO, do you? Do you doubt our commitment because Bosniaks, or rather Bosniak politicians, publicly and openly criticize some moves by the international community, and especially by neighboring countries?

Professor Komšić proposes that we seek partners in the West with the help of the Republic of Croatia. Are you referring to the same Croatia that committed aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, that seeks to send its military forces to our country through NATO, and that publicly boasts about successfully lobbying the High Representative for changes to the Election Law, and which, with and through the HDZ, conditions the SDA and "Bosniak civil" parties for entry into power, and with which changes it is still to be stipulated that the head of state is elected by the constituent peoples, one-third each, thus killing any hope for the survival of our state?

Whoever does this among these Bosniak-civil-national parties will be marked as a traitor to the state and will have a special treatment from Bosniaks. They should not even negotiate about it, let alone agree to it. I am sure that Bosniaks, no matter how attacked, divided, projectedly put against each other, manipulated, and often deceived by the international community, are capable of defending themselves and their country, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from any kind of danger and attack, but also from traitors within their own ranks.

Bosniaks will, as before, and as in the war when things were toughest, advocate for equal human rights for all citizens and for the construction of a modern and functional state. We know how to do that. We will not, as before, give in and allow it to be taken for granted that governments must include parties, or their representatives, that are destroying the state, while Bosniaks are given conditions for some kind of coalition, or participation in the parliamentary majority, and at the same time, trivial issues that are discussed in the media and their special programs are imposed as globally important during that very period.