Entities cannot be electoral units for the BiH Presidency, abolition of the state House of Peoples proposed

(Patria) - Members of the BiH Presidency must be elected in the entire country, not from entities. Delegates in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH must be elected from the territory of the entire country. Therefore, the BiH Presidency – one electoral unit. The House of Peoples of the PA BiH – one electoral unit. Without entities.

This is the essence of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case Slaven Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Strasbourg court ruled before the annual boards, and the official announcement, according to Istraga sedmice Hayat TV, should be by the end of this month.

Slaven Kovačević, currently an advisor to the Chairman of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić, addressed the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, stating that his right is threatened because from Sarajevo he cannot decide on the election of a member of the BiH Presidency from Republika Srpska, nor can he, as a citizen from FBiH, be a delegate in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The European Court of Human Rights, according to information from Istraga sedmice HAYAT TV, ruled that Kovačević was discriminated against in these cases.

The Court found that the current political system of BiH has made ethnic representation more important than political, economic-social, and other issues, and has strengthened ethnic divisions in the country and undermined the democratic character of elections, and that "constituent peoples are privileged".

According to Istraga's information, the European Court of Human Rights found that the Court considered that the combination of territorial and ethnic requirements constituted discriminatory treatment contrary to Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 in the context of the right to participate in elections for the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and considered that the same applies to the right to vote in elections for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In short, the Court concludes that elections in BiH are undemocratic.

The Court, as we learn, paid special attention to the competencies of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The judges note that the existence of the House of Peoples of the PA BiH would be acceptable if the powers of the House of Peoples were limited to the precisely defined vital national interest of the constituent peoples, and not to the approval of all laws. The Court proposes several solutions for the House of Peoples in its judgment. The first solution is to reduce the powers of the House of Peoples. The second possible solution is to abolish the House of Peoples and protect ethnic interests within the House of Representatives. The third solution is to maintain the House of Peoples in its current form while allowing all citizens to participate in its work.

The Court further states that representatives of peoples in the House of Peoples must represent members of that people from the entire territory of the state, not just its individual parts.

The Belgian model is also proposed, according to which citizens would elect first, and then the elected representatives would decide which people's club they would participate in.

Ethnicity, the Court in Strasbourg states, cannot and must not prevail over political representation. It must be secondary.

More details about this judgment will be known in the coming days, writes Istraga.