CEC BiH Responds to Čović's Minister: Bevanda Misleads Public and Obstructs Budget Adoption

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejects the unargumented qualifications of the Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Vjekoslav Bevanda, who claims there is an orchestrated attack on him from the Central Election Commission of BiH, which "regularly makes statements in certain media claiming that one person can obstruct the adoption of the budget or the decision of a collective body such as the Council of Ministers of BiH," according to a statement from the CEC BiH.

"With such qualifications, Minister Bevanda is brutally misleading the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Central Election Commission of BiH has never claimed that one person can adopt the budget, but we are deeply aware that several people sitting in the Fiscal Council and the Council of Ministers of BiH can certainly slow down or obstruct the aforementioned process of adopting the Law on the Budget of Institutions and International Obligations of BiH. And Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda sits in both of these bodies, and is a key person for the progress of making relevant decisions. We have also informed the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina in detail about the legal bases for the requests of the Central Election Commission of BiH to both the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH and the Council of Ministers of BiH," the CEC stated.

The Central Election Commission believes that securing the necessary financial resources for the organization and implementation of democratic elections, especially when said resources already exist in the Unified Treasury Account, is not something that could be stopped, conditioned, or slowed down in any democratic society. These resources are the property of the taxpayers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not the property of the Central Election Commission of BiH, the minister, or the Council of Ministers of BiH, and must be used for purposes prescribed by the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Regarding Minister Bevanda's latest statement, we note that the Central Election Commission of BiH did not request approval from the Council of Ministers of BiH to allocate funds to the Central Election Commission of BiH by a special decision from the 'current reserve,' but funds from accumulated surpluses from previous years, which is a much larger fund than the current reserve. And these funds are also allocated according to procedure, just like the funds from the current reserve, in accordance with Article 17 of the Law on Financing of BiH Institutions. The legal basis for the Council of Ministers of BiH to make a special decision approving the use of these funds in a situation where the Budget of Institutions and International Obligations of BiH has not been adopted is located in Article 11, Paragraph 5 of the same Law. Minister Bevanda himself directed the Central Election Commission of BiH to this procedure in one of his acts. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Zoran Tegeltija, and the Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Vjekoslav Bevanda, refused to include the agenda item at the last session of the Council of Ministers of BiH, held on April 20, 2022, for the adoption of a special decision on the request of the Central Election Commission of BiH. The Budget of Institutions and International Obligations of BiH, which the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina must wait for according to Minister Bevanda in order to have General Elections, with this dynamic, dictated also by Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda, along with members of the Fiscal Council and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Zoran Tegeltija, may be adopted perhaps in December of this year, and perhaps later," the CEC BiH added.

The Central Election Commission of BiH hereby wishes to inform the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina that with such actions and approach, there is an objective danger that voters in Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be able to exercise their fundamental democratic right to elect their representatives in power on the day of the General Elections on October 2, 2022, in accordance with the Constitution and the law.