Will the OHR react: In RS, vital interest is three times more expensive than in FBiH

The Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska, i.e. its Council for the Protection of Vital National Interests, makes decisions in a manner contrary to Amendment LXXXII (82) to the Constitution of Republika Srpska ("Official Gazette of Republika Srpska", no. 21/02).

This amendment clearly and unambiguously regulates the voting procedure in the Council for the Protection of Vital Interests at the Constitutional Court of RS.

According to the Constitution of RS, the Council for the Protection of Vital Interests consists of seven members, two from each constituent people and one from the ranks of others.

Amendment LXXXII (82) defines:

"In the event that the procedure under Article of Amendment LXXI b is initiated by a 2/3 majority of one of the clubs, the vote of at least two judges is required for the court to decide that it is a vital interest."

The Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska has been grossly violating this clear constitutional provision for years, starting from 2005 by adopting its Rules of Procedure, Article 54 of which states:

"The Council for the Protection of Vital Interests decides on the merits by adopting a decision by a two-thirds majority of all members of the Council."

Therefore, it is clear that the constitutional framer, by adopting Amendment LXXXII to the Constitution of RS, intended to enable two judges, members of the Council, from any constituent people to decide whether an issue is a vital interest of a constituent people.

Realizing that the constitutional framer gave constituent peoples a strong lever for the protection of vital interests in the entity constitutional courts, the adoption of the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court of RS was undertaken, attempting to render this constitutional possibility meaningless and circumvent it.

This legal violence has been "successfully" ongoing for more than 10 years without an adequate response from the Office of the High Representative, which is also the creator of Amendment LXXXII to the Constitution of RS, which the National Assembly of RS confirmed on April 4, 2002.

Incidentally, the Office of the High Representative imposed identical constitutional provisions on the Council for the Protection of Vital Interests of Constituent Peoples in 2002 on the Constitution of the Federation of BiH, with the difference that the Constitutional Court of the Federation consistently applies these provisions when voting in the Council for the Protection of Vital Interests of Constituent Peoples at the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH.

For the Councils at the entity Constitutional Courts, with completely identical entity constitutional provisions, to decide that it is a vital interest of constituent peoples, in RS the vote of six out of seven judges is required, while in FBiH it is two out of seven judges.