Arnaut: HDZ prolongs government formation through appeals to the Constitutional Court

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Constitutional Court of BiH declared itself incompetent regarding the appeals of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) deputies concerning the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Instructions on filling the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the entity Federation of BiH.

The President of the Court, Zlatko Knežević, explained that the CEC's Instructions remain in force until challenged by a competent body.

"The Constitutional Court has certain competencies under the Constitution and strives to emphasize that all institutions are doing their jobs. We said that this is not our competence, which means the CEC has done its job, and it is not up to us who will challenge it further. As a citizen, I can say that the cantons should complete the procedure and that the process of forming the government should be brought to an end," said Knežević.

Damir Arnaut, an SBB deputy in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament and a lawyer, stated in an interview with Patria that the Constitutional Court's procedure is "legally unfounded because the BiH Constitution clearly stipulates that the Constitutional Court of BiH is competent for any dispute that arises between Bosnia and Herzegovina and an entity.".

"The Constitutional Court is also competent for disputes between institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not limited to the constitutionality of laws," Arnaut points out.

Arnaut believes that the fact that this issue has not been resolved is also a problem.

"I think the bigger problem is that the Constitutional Court of BiH did not put an end to this issue today because it did not consider Borjana Krišto's request. I am sure that HDZ deliberately submitted the request two days before this session to prevent the Constitutional Court from considering it today, all in order to prolong the formation of the government as much as possible," said Arnaut.

An appeal against the CEC's instructions was also filed by Borjana Krišto from HDZ BiH, but the Constitutional Court has not yet considered that appeal.

That appeal will be discussed in March, but even that could be postponed, along with another appeal concerning the Constitution of FBiH, through which HDZ BiH is trying to challenge the model by which each cantonal assembly must provide one representative from each of the three constituent peoples to the House of Peoples of FBiH, which contradicts their principle of so-called legitimate representation.