Bandić on the failed session of the KS Assembly: The Troika is violating all legal norms, the citizens of KS are hostages of their political power

Written by: Muamer Bandić

Yesterday's 31st working session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly represents yet another confirmation of the continuous, now systematic, disregard for the rules of procedure carried out by the Troika parties throughout their entire mandate in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly. This is a modus operandi in which the rules, procedures, and legal standards, established to ensure the lawful, transparent, and accountable work of the highest legislative body of Sarajevo Canton, are daily bypassed and ignored as if they do not exist.

Over the past eight years, we have witnessed a systematic undermining of legal procedures that should form the foundations of parliamentary democracy. Once again, arrogance, haughtiness, and disregard for the provisions of the rules of procedure have most vividly depicted the governance model of the parliamentary majority.

Instead of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly being a place for protecting the public interest and consistent application of the law, the Troika is increasingly turning it into a political flea market, where personal and party interests are traded. And the price of this marketeering is paid by the citizens of Sarajevo Canton. This price is reflected not only in the spending of budget funds but also in the complete capture of cantonal institutions, public enterprises, and other public legal entities through the distribution of managerial and leadership positions as "political" compensation for support to the parliamentary majority.

In this way, public institutions, instead of acting in the interest of citizens and in accordance with the law, become a mere tool for maintaining this ruling parliamentary majority, thereby further deepening institutional violence against the law and weakening public trust in the work of institutions. In such a marketeering environment, legal norms become irrelevant, such as the number of deputies present at sessions, whether a quorum exists for work, or whether the conditions for making decisions are met!?

One event from yesterday's session is precisely an illustrative example of such an attitude of the Troika towards the rules of procedure and a true indicator of how this clientelistic octopus, which has captured Sarajevo Canton with its interest tentacles, actually functions. The Assembly leadership put to a vote a proposal for a break lasting one hour and fifteen minutes. Since the adoption of such a decision required an absolute majority of all deputies, i.e., at least 18 votes, the proposal did not receive the necessary support. After that, the chairperson or another representative of the People and Justice party requested a break on behalf of the NiP Deputy Club lasting 15 minutes. However, that break lasted longer than one hour and fifteen minutes. Such conduct completely disregarded the Rules of Procedure of the KS Assembly.

Thus, after the proposal did not receive the required majority, the Assembly leadership decided, without any basis in the rules of procedure and without a decision of the Assembly, to completely arbitrarily determine an interruption of the session. This directly derogated the procedural norm that regulates the manner of determining and the duration of breaks during a session. Such actions speak for themselves about the Troika's attitude towards legal norms, institutions, procedures, or any rule of law.

In the previous period, I have written, spoken, and warned extensively about phenomena that represent blatant examples of institutional violence against the law. Yesterday's session fully confirms my earlier claim that one of the key features of the political activity of the Troika parties is precisely institutional negligence. This negligence is reflected in the selective application of legal norms and the disregard of rules by institutions managed by cadres of the Troika parties.

Yesterday's example of disregarding the provisions of the rules of procedure shows a worrying tendency whereby legal regulations are not perceived as a binding framework for the operation of institutions, but as an obstacle that can be circumvented when political interest requires it.

Such a mode of governance in the long term undermines legal certainty, erodes citizens' trust in institutions, and weakens the foundations of parliamentary democracy. It is important to emphasize that the opposition has no ability to independently determine the duration of breaks, nor to impose its proposals. It can only use the rights guaranteed to it by the Rules of Procedure, while the final decision is made by the parliamentary majority.

However, even when the ruling majority has this institutional advantage and has the opportunity, within the prescribed procedures, to achieve its political goals, we witness situations in which even this normative framework is violated when it does not produce the desired result. Therefore, yesterday's session is not merely a matter of a procedural error or a disputed decision. It represents a symptom of a much more serious problem, an attitude towards the law as a category that should be above the political power of the majority, not its hostage.

And together with the law, the hostages of the political power of such a majority are the citizens of Sarajevo, who because of this live in a dirty and unkempt city. But let the citizens not worry about legal norms because the election campaign is coming, so the ruling camarilla will compensate for all this inaction and rape of the law with even more intense and glamorous promises.

The only question is which fairy tale will this time replace those, never realized, 300 measures?