Turmoil in the Parliament of FBiH: Numerous committees and a session of the House of Representatives of the PFBiH scheduled, Mešalić calls for dissolution of both houses

(Patria) - Federal representative and head of the DF Club in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH Mahir Mešalić stated that the President of FBiH Lidija Bradara (HDZ BiH) should dissolve both houses of the Federal Parliament on two grounds. He believes she will not do so because they have found partners who raise their hands for everything HDZ orders.

He cited Article 16 of the Constitution of the Federation of BiH.

„When the President of the Federation determines that the houses are unable to pass necessary laws, he may, with the consent of the Vice President of the Federation, dissolve one or both houses, provided that no house may be dissolved within one year of its first convening.

The President of the Federation dissolves both houses when they fail to adopt the Federation budget before the start of the budget year,” the Constitution states.

The House of Representatives was constituted in December 2022, and the House of Peoples in January 2023.

Mešalić also publicly asks the OHR why it has double standards and why the OHR now, instead of suspending the Constitution of FBiH for 24 hours when it suits HDZ and changing electoral rules on election night, does not respect the Constitution of FBiH and dissolve both houses of the Parliament of FBiH.

“Instead of implementing the Constitution of FBiH, the OHR (Schmidt) remains silent in the face of an obvious violation of the Constitution of FBiH and acts on a pick-and-choose basis, depending on whether it suits Dragan Čović or not. Dissolving this incapable convocation of both houses of the Parliament of FBiH and calling new elections is the solution,” stated Mešalić.

Two sessions of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH are scheduled for next week. The first will be held on Monday, January 22, where the Information on the non-functioning of the working bodies of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH will be discussed, along with a second item on elections and appointments. The session was called by HDZ's Mladen Bošković, given that the Chairwoman Mirjana Marinković-Lepić (Our Party) can no longer perform this function due to health reasons. She transferred her authority to Bošković, even though the head of the House of Peoples of the PFBiH is also an HDZ BiH cadre, Tomislav Martinović.

A session of the Commission for Elections and Appointments, the Mandate-Immunity Commission, and the Legislative-Legal Commission is also scheduled for tomorrow. Its agenda includes, in addition to the decision on temporary financing, which should be on the agenda of the House of Representatives session on Wednesday, amendments to the Rules of Procedure proposed by the ruling majority led by HDZ BiH.

Several sessions of the Legislative-Legal Commission and the Commission for Elections and Appointments were not held due to a lack of quorum. The quorum is “held” by opposition representatives who do not want to allow only one name for a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH, Marina Vukoje, which HDZ insists on, to come before the representatives; instead, they demand a full list.

On the other hand, no appointment can come before the Parliament until a session of the Commission for Elections and Appointments is held. The opposition is aware of the trap set by the ruling majority, so they placed on the same agenda of the Legislative-Legal Commission both the temporary financing of FBiH for the first quarter, given that there is no Budget proposal, and amendments to the Rules of Procedure that would allow the ruling majority to fill the commissions with missing members, thus bypassing the opposition and achieving the necessary majority in both commissions.

The opposition requested from the Chairman of the Legislative-Legal Commission, Belmin Zukan (SDP), to schedule a session that would only consider the Decision on temporary financing, i.e., accompanying decisions related to the Health Insurance and Reinsurance Institute and the Federal Employment Institute.