Kovačević for NAP: Schmidt undermines democracy in BiH by twisting facts, and that is very dangerous!

Interview by A. Čorbo-Zećo

Watching and listening to High Representative Christian Schmidt on how he views the "Kovačević" ruling and possible solutions, I couldn't believe the amount of untruths he uttered. He tried to justify his October 2022 decisions regarding amendments to the entity constitution and the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to put them in the context that the "Kovačević" ruling can be implemented in that or a similar way by adding the House of Peoples of the state, which is absolutely untrue, stated appellant Slaven Kovačević in an interview with Patria, when asked to comment on Christian Schmidt's statements during his guest appearance on N1 television.

"First, with his decision, he introduced something called the 'ethnic quota,' which is used as a mathematical formula for filling the Federal House of Peoples, thereby formally introducing extreme discrimination into the electoral system, where not all people are equal because they have different ethnic quotas, and thus unequal voting power.

It is a complete untruth that he significantly reduced the scope of 'vital interest' when he left the previous 8+1 issues, where the ninth point stated 'and all other issues,' as the same 8+1, only changing the ninth element to 'and all other laws and decisions,' which formally remained the same regarding the invocation and abuse of 'vital interest.' In that regard, there is almost no visible change," Kovačević points out.

You said first, what is second, and how does the ruling you won in Strasbourg conflict with what Schmidt enacted on October 2nd?

- Well, second, I stand firmly by my words that the OHR was disgraced by the "Kovačević" ruling due to that October 2022 decision, because that ruling directly challenges the method of election to the House of Peoples from the conceptual solution imposed by the High Representative and his team with his decision.

The reasons are simple, because the European Court of Human Rights unequivocally states that ethnic representation must be replaced by civic political representation because the ethnic electoral system undermines democracy. With his October 2022 decision, the High Representative strengthened the ethnic electoral system, which undermines democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that is his direct responsibility. Therefore, with his decision, he enabled further undermining of democracy, one of the pillars of the Council of Europe, alongside the rule of law and human rights protection. That is the only truth.

So, Schmidt's claim that things are being resolved by introducing the House of Peoples' Other Club is not true?

Contrary to the High Representative's nebulous ideas that everything can be resolved by introducing the Other Club into the BiH House of Peoples, the European Court of Human Rights unequivocally states, using the Venice Commission's Opinion as argumentation, that the House of Peoples (upper house) can only be a legislative body without the protection of collective (ethnic) rights, and for such a form of the House of Peoples, there can be no ethnic principle of election, or it can be a protector of collective (ethnic) rights but not a legislative body, again without the ethnic principle of election, or the House of Peoples is abolished, and the protection of collective (ethnic) rights is carried out in the House of Representatives (lower house), but for a very narrow range of issues, which would be 3-4 issues arising from identity, such as ethnic identity, language, religion, and culture, not 8+1 as the High Representative sees it. In other words, the "Kovačević" ruling states the opposite of the High Representative's claims.

How do you view the claim that the current government is a reflection of the democratic will of the citizens of the Federation?

The claim that the current federal government is a reflection of the democratic will of the citizens is not true, when 23-27% or exactly 25 mandates are allocated through compensatory lists, which voters do not know about, have never seen, nor have they voted for these lists, but rather party leaders compile them, where they usually delegate themselves or their loyal political cadres. If we know how thin the parliamentary majority of 53 deputies is, and that 25 mandates are allocated from compensatory lists for which voters did not vote, then it is quite clear that the current, as well as a number of previous federal governments, are not a reflection of the democratic will of the voting citizens, precisely because of the existence of compensatory lists, which are an undemocratic political tool.

However, Schmidt stated that all citizens in BiH must have equal rights?

I see that the High Representative barely uttered that all citizens must have equal rights, which is a European standard and which undoubtedly means that all elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, whether for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina or for legislative bodies, must be organized in such a way that passive voting rights or the right to candidacy for every citizen are respected (from the Sejdić-Finci, Zornić, Pilav, Šlaku, and Pudarić rulings), and only then is the "Kovačević" ruling and the protection of active voting rights activated, which states that all citizens must be able to vote for every candidate, especially for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through a single electoral unit.

And to conclude, by clearly showing Schmidt's attempt to twist facts. I am fully aware that the High Representative cannot implement the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights because they require constitutional amendments, but I am also aware, and he should be too, that the "Kovačević" ruling clearly showed and proved that what Schmidt did with his October 2022 decision was wrong and outside European standards. His manipulation and twisting of facts are both ridiculous and very dangerous. Undermining democracy is not a small matter.