ELECTIONS (WON'T) HAPPEN: Izetbegović does not believe changes to the Election Law will occur

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - There are slim chances of reaching an agreement on amendments to the Election Law of BiH and limited amendments to the Constitution of BiH in the remaining time until the elections are called, in order to implement all the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from Strasbourg. However, this absolutely does not mean that the General Elections cannot be held under the existing Election Law, as local elections were already held under it in 2020. 

The President of DF and the Chairman of the Presidency of BiH, Željko Komšić, stated yesterday that elections will happen whether someone likes it or not. 

"Elections must happen, because if there are no elections, what is the point of talking about democracy, the constitution, laws. The legal framework for such a thing exists, elections can be held, now it is only up to political will whether the budget will be adopted in the BiH Parliament, which will enable the financing of elections. If there is obstruction there, there is always a solution. The solution is primarily in the hands of the international community, i.e., the High Representative, who has the authority to even impose the budget for institutions," said Komšić.

Although the end of February was previously mentioned as the deadline for amendments to the Election Law of BiH, this did not happen. After the meeting held on February 10th in the BiH Parliament, attended by HDZ BiH, SDA, SBB, NIP, and HDZ 1990, no further talks were held. The alleged meeting that was supposed to take place in Mostar was a complete fiasco because representatives of no party showed up. The President of SDA, Bakir Izetbegović, expressed doubt yesterday that changes would occur.

"I would not say that there will be changes to the Election Law because the Croatian side is too rigid."

Izetbegović said that regardless of the pressure, unilateral solutions are not acceptable.

"If they are willing to work with us on unblocking the House of Peoples in the Federation of BiH in general, changes can occur, but they are too rigid. But generally, that is my experience, unfortunately, with the Croatian side and HDZ for over a decade," said Izetbegović. 

We remind you that SDP BiH, DF, Naša stranka, NES, NB, or any other parliamentary party are not participating in the talks on amendments to the Election Law, as they believe that negotiations should not take place until the state institutions, which have been blocked by SNSD and associated parties from RS since July 2021, are unblocked. 

The international community has clearly stated that amendments to the Constitution of BiH must be voted on with the votes of the opposition as well.