Anti-democratic Action: CEC Must Annul 'Instruction on Dual Positions'

(Patria) - Aner Žuljević, SDP BiH delegate in the House of Peoples, stated regarding the adoption of the FBiH budget rebalance enabled by the actions of the BiH CEC that the BiH CEC must urgently suspend its Instruction on Dual Positions, because it directly promotes conflict of interest and encourages the failure to form a government!

"Considering that the general elections were held 17 months ago, and we have no formed government at the FBiH level and in some cantons, nor is the BiH Council of Ministers complete, it is clear that certain phenomena in the electoral legislation are quite flawed in terms of deadlines for forming a government.

However, the fact that the BiH CEC still does not abandon its anti-democratic instruction on dual functions, which allows a prime minister or minister in the executive branch to simultaneously be a representative or delegate in the legislative branch, is particularly concerning. This concept of the BiH CEC represents not only an alibi for the long-term incapacitation of institutions and the failure to form a government, but also promotes a blatant conflict of interest that is escalating today in times of crisis. The adoption of financial documents worth 5.5 billion KM was enabled by a classic example of conflict of interest.

At the last sessions of both houses of the FBiH Parliament, a precedent occurred that has never been seen anywhere in the world before, namely that officials from the executive branch were the key votes for the adoption of documents such as the rebalance or the 'corona law,' which they had previously approved for themselves in the government," said Žuljević.

He notes, specifically, that this concerns the President and Vice President of FBiH, as well as the current Minister of Spatial Planning and the Minister of Finance of FBiH in the House of Representatives, while in the House of Peoples, the rebalance was adopted with the votes of the Federal Minister of Interior and the Minister of Culture.

"It is clear that this is an artificial creation of the CEC in the form of an instruction that created a Frankenstein democracy and completely suspended the need to form a government. By the will of the CEC, today we have no formed government, but we have special forces who hold three functions simultaneously, two legislative and one executive. I note that this conflict of interest is deeply integrated into our parliamentary system, because cantonal premiers and ministers, as members of the government, send themselves the budget, then confirm/adopt it in the Assembly by voting as representatives. If all this is not a conflict of interest, then I really don't know what is.

I don't know what more the BiH CEC can come up with to further compromise themselves and the electoral process, but it is obvious that they have brought the entire electoral and post-electoral process to absurdity, especially after the last elections. I call on the BiH CEC to annul its anti-democratic instruction and force the current 'dual' or 'triple' functionaries to declare which position they will keep. Only in this way can we restore normal democratic principles of two-tier decision-making and finally force the election winners to form a government," notes Žuljević.