Kovačević's Candidacy - A Referendum on Bosnia and Herzegovina's European Future

For NAP writes: Prof. dr. Hazim Bašić

The October 2026 elections will not be a routine measure of party infrastructures. It will be a test of society's maturity to choose between a state where citizens are holders of sovereignty or a state where 'owners of the people' are arbiters of identity, loyalty, and political destiny. The vote citizens cast will not only decide the composition of the Presidency, but whether this country will continue to live in a system of ethnic exclusivities or begin a process of constitutional and political transformation towards a civic state.

In this regard, the question is not who is 'someone's candidate', but whether the idea of equal rights for all will prevail or the concept of 'ownership of the people' which has been producing blockades, blackmail, and institutional paralysis for three decades.

'Legitimate Representation' or Political Ownership?

Three decades after the war, we are still living in a system that has not built a functional democracy. Dayton was a peace agreement, not a constitutional vision for the future. It institutionalized a governance model that today produces blockades and constant crisis. The political scene continues to operate on the logic that peoples are the property of political parties. In this logic, identity is not a personal fact but a party permit. Political centers want to decide who is the 'true' representative and who has 'legitimacy'.

The political tandem embodied by Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović do not hide that their goal is to preserve the model in which the people are above the citizen, the collective above the individual, and the veto above the law. In such a system, the state is a hostage of party centers, and citizens are extras.

One of the biggest deceptions of contemporary BiH politics is the thesis of 'legitimate representation'. However, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not recognize categories such as 'Croatian member' or 'Bosniak member' of the Presidency, but a member from among a certain people. This difference is not semantic but essential and undermines the entire construct of political ownership of identity.

If the logic that a member of one people can only vote for a candidate from 'their' people is accepted, then a political ghetto is introduced. This is precisely why Slaven Kovačević's candidacy is causing nervousness. The candidacy is completely legal and legitimate, but it challenges the monopoly on the interpretation of identity. Hence the strong reactions to this candidacy from some BiH political entities.

The proposal for the Election Law drafted by HDZ BiH is an attempt to introduce a kind of 'controlled geographical origin' principle, according to which political legitimacy does not stem from the constitutional right of the individual, but from their cantonal address.

Judgments Awaiting the State

For years, Bosnia and Herzegovina has been ignoring the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. These judgments are not abstract. They are clear: a system that discriminates against citizens based on ethnic and territorial affiliation is not compatible with the European legal order.

The fight against discrimination is an important part of Kovačević's biography. Therefore, his nomination in the upcoming elections does not only mean entering the electoral race, but bringing the constitutional issue to the very center of the campaign.

If a voice that consistently insists on the execution of the Strasbourg judgments is found in the Presidency, then European integration can become a real process. If not, the EU path remains a political slogan. The implementation of judgments is not an attack on the constituent peoples. It is an attack on the privileges of political elites who live off permanent crisis.

The Dayton logic of collective vetoes and ethnic exclusivities has become a brake on any serious progress. The Dayton Constitution is not sufficient to build a European state. Kovačević's candidacy is therefore a political challenge to the existing architecture of power. The implementation of ECHR judgments and the strengthening of the civic principle are not an attack on identities, but the only way for identity to cease being a political weapon. Equality before the law does not mean the abolition of identity.

The Dayton Order as Peace Without a State

The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a ceremonial body, as it is often presented to the public, but part of the executive power of the state. Therefore, the balance of power within the Presidency determines the country's political direction. Not voting in elections is not a neutral act, but a political choice with consequences. Every unused vote strengthens the disciplined electoral machinery of those who want to maintain the existing model.

Will Bosnia and Herzegovina remain a country where parties own ethnic groups, or will it become a state where every citizen is a political subject?

The upcoming elections are not a luxury of choosing between nuances, but a choice between two political concepts. If the idea of ethnic exclusivity wins, the crisis will be prolonged. If the idea of citizen equality wins, space will open up for Bosnia and Herzegovina's European integration. In this sense, Kovačević's candidacy is a kind of referendum, and the answer to happiness will not be given by political elites, but by citizens.