CSS: Early elections in March as a guarantee of peace and security for BiH citizens

(Patria) - The biggest political-security crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement is reaching its peak. In Republika Srpska, the heated political scene and events that undermine the rule of law. At the state level and in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the unbearable ease of ignoring events in one's own backyard and occasional meaningless squabbles of politicians who seem to be already in an election campaign, states the Center for Security Studies.

"Citizens are counting the dead and injured on our catastrophic roads, are striking sporadically and witnessing a flood of narcotics on our streets, which are shaken by detonations of explosive devices every now and then, attacks on journalists, femicides, etc. There is also some euphoria, brought by various cultural events and gifts from relatives from the diaspora, but sobering up comes with colder days and new price increases.

What remains well camouflaged, in a time for which no one can predict what kind of crisis and outcome it may end with, is that politicians are stealing another year, and perhaps more, of our lives. Prolonging the resolution of the crisis only until October next year and vague promises for which no one can offer any guarantees of a better perspective, is just one of the insidious policies by which political parties manipulate citizens and steal precious time from our lives.

The least damage in this heated political atmosphere is to force the executive and legislative authorities to introduce a mechanism for early elections by amending the Election Law of BiH and to organize them as early as the beginning of next year, possibly in March. Such proactive action could partially alleviate the existing agony related to the election of the new president of Republika Srpska, but also enable citizens to express their democratic will in free and fair elections. At the same time, it would shorten the unjustifiably long period of waiting for changes, which only benefits political elites, whether those in power or those in opposition," state the CSS.

The proposed amendments to the Election Law of BiH are the least that citizens should demand from political leaders at this moment.

"The focus of society, as well as possible unwanted consequences, would be significantly changed from the current political cataclysm we are inevitably in. We believe that such a change in the current paradigm would significantly lower the omnipresent tensions that can affect peace and security, and enable citizens to elect representatives in the shortest possible time who will return Bosnia and Herzegovina to the path of Euro-Atlantic integration and better economic prosperity," they conclude.