Battle for BiH anthem again in Parliament

The House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament should reconsider the new attempt to give our country lyrics for its anthem at its next session on February 3. This is an initiative by MP Šemsudin Mehmedović.

"I am launching an initiative to restart the procedure for public advertising, submission, selection, and adoption of the lyrics for the anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, so that we can finally resolve this simple, yet very important issue to the satisfaction of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina," the initiative reads.

This initiative was on the agenda of the House of Representatives session on January 11, but it did not receive the entity majority.

Therefore, the Collegium of the House of Representatives considered it in the following days, but they also failed to reach a consensus. It was necessary for the initiative to be accepted by the Speaker of the House and the two deputies.

According to the procedure, the initiative is now returned to the House of Representatives, which will vote on it again. This time, the decision is made by a majority of the total number of deputies or delegates present and voting, provided that the votes against do not include two-thirds or more of the deputies or delegates elected from each entity.

Therefore, deputies from the RS will again be able to reject this initiative.

Mehmedović writes in the initiative that it is known to everyone that our country is one of the few whose anthem has no lyrics.

"It is also a known fact that the PS BiH voted on this issue several years ago after a public competition procedure for the best anthem lyrics, and after the selection and submission of the proposal to the parliamentary procedure, it was not accepted without explanation, but was rejected by the so-called entity vote, thus ending the procedure in the BiH Parliament," the explanation states.

Mehmedović further states that our country is exposed to humiliation and belittlement every time it appears on the international stage due to the absence of anthem lyrics.