Who will vote on the Budget, Novaković-Bursać or Vuković: New blockades and dilemmas, the political scene is heating up

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

After the BiH Presidency adopted the Bill on the Budget of BiH Institutions and International Obligations of BiH for 2024, urgent sessions of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament are expected, which must also adopt the Budget.

Nebojša Radmanović, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, told the representatives to be on standby, as the session will be scheduled soon. However, the session of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament could be subject to new twists and blockades.

Namely, on July 4, the Central Election Commission (CIK) awarded the mandate to Nenad Vuković from the candidate list of PDP - Party of Democratic Progress, who will replace SNSD's Snježana Novaković-Bursać. But Milorad Dodik, president of SNSD, did not agree with this decision, announcing action before the Court in Strasbourg.
Otherwise, an appeal against the CIK's decision can be filed with the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH through the Central Election Commission of BiH within two days of receiving the decision.

"When this decision becomes final, and an appeal is allowed within two days, all conditions will be met to proceed to the next step, which is the confirmation of the results," said Irena Hadžiabdić, President of the Central Election Commission of BiH.

She clarified that this case does not involve the termination and awarding of substitute mandates, but rather the procedure of determining and confirming the election results.

"When we determine and confirm election results, we never say that someone's mandate has ended. It ends by operation of law when you determine and confirm the results of new elections. These are completely new elections. A legal precedent stemming from the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH," said Hadžiabdić.

Therefore, the mandate previously awarded to Snježana Novaković Bursać, who currently holds the position of delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, will not be revoked at all, because according to the CIK's interpretation, there is no need for it, given that new election results have been determined, and according to them, by operation of law, the new mandate belongs to Vuković.

However, the question is how this is interpreted within SNSD and whether they will still send Novaković-Bursać to the session, which Vuković will also attend, provided his appointment is confirmed by then.

SNSD claims that the CIK is illegal and that with this move, it is trying to modify the political scene in BiH. Snježana Novaković Bursać points out that the current composition of the CIK was formed through an illegal procedure and that it is a political body manipulating election results.

Vuković, on the other hand, claims that justice has been served, but the truth is that the political scene in BiH will be further heated, all at a time when the Budget should be adopted, with a seven-month delay.