ELECTIONS LAW OF BiH Talks in Neum begin at 8 AM

NEUM, (Patria) - Foreign delegations led by US envoy for electoral reform Matthew Palmer and EU representative Angelina Eichhorst, with the participation of the OSCE and representatives of several political parties from FBiH, begin talks today on amendments to the Election Law of BiH. 

The delegations arrived last night at the Marea hotel where they had a joint dinner, and today official talks begin with the participation of SDA, HDZ BiH, HDZ 1990, SBB, NIP, NES. 

The talks are expected to last until Sunday, although there is a possibility they could end sooner or later. 

SDP BiH, DF, Naša stranka, NB refused the invitation to participate in this round of talks, which could be the last due to the limiting period remaining for amendments to the law in an election year.

These parties did not wish to participate in talks in an atmosphere of blockade of state institutions, transfer of competencies from the state to the RS entity, undermining the Dayton Peace Agreement, which they clearly explained to foreign mediators, but also at a time when they are running away from proposals that remove discrimination from the existing electoral system. 

Their message is that there is an Election Law according to which the October elections can be held, and then in a non-election year, proceed with the implementation of the Strasbourg ruling. For now, technical amendments to the law are being put on the back burner, although they must be insisted upon even if an agreement is not reached on the election of members of the BiH Presidency and the powers of the Houses of Peoples in order to hold fair and honest elections and respect the will of the voters.   

Parties from RS, with whom talks were held in Sarajevo, were not invited to the talks in Neum, and the issue of amending the Election Law is addressed to the presidents of SDA and HDZ, Bakir Izetbegović and Dragan Čović, which is not an adequate approach because these are amendments that must pass a vote in the BiH Parliament, where deputies and delegates from 16 different political parties are represented.