Two Interpretations of the Law on Electoral Units

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Delegates in the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina voted by a majority on Thursday afternoon that the Proposal of the Law on Electoral Units and the Number of Mandates of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina be sent for review to the Council for Vital National Interest of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Such a proposal was supported by 29 delegates: the Bosniak Club, seven delegates from the Serb Club, two delegates from the Croat Club, and delegates from the Others Club.

This decision was previously opposed by delegates from the HDZ.

„The law has fallen,“ claims the Croat Club.

„The session is concluded,“ stated the Chairwoman of the House, Lidija Bradara, after which she left the session of the House of Peoples together with other delegates from the HDZ. The session was continued by the Deputy Chairman of the House, Jasenko Tufekčić.

The proponents of the Law on Electoral Units in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are the parliamentary clubs in the House of Representatives of the SDA, SBB, DF, SDP, and delegate in the House of Peoples Kojović. They claim that the law, if finally adopted, will remove blockades in the constitution of the federal House of Peoples. According to this law, in the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, each of the three constituent peoples in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina should have at least one delegate in the House of Peoples from each of the ten cantons. The HDZ, on the other hand, believes that in this house, the peoples should not have representatives from all cantons, but only from those where they are a majority, or where there is at least a significant number of that people. Such a proposal by the HDZ is assessed by other parties as discriminatory.