Mulaosmanović fighting for constituent rights, defends RS Constitution from SDS, DNS and SP

By: Rasim BELKO

Behija Mulaosmanović was the candidate of the Democratic Front for the municipal council seat in the Municipality of Trnovo (RS) in last year's Local Elections, in which she won the council mandate with the votes of citizens from this municipality.

However, this time, unlike previous terms, Mulaosmanović was not elected to the leadership of the Municipal Council of Trnovo RS.

In an interview with Patria, she explains that the new council majority, consisting of the Socialist Party, the Democratic People's Alliance and the Serbian Democratic Party, decided to ignore the Constitution of Republika Srpska and the practice of constituent status in the distribution of leading positions in local self-government.

“The majority of SDS, SP, DNS decided to violate the Constitution and appoint Siniša Golijanin, a member of DNS, who is from the same constituent people as the municipal mayor Dragomir Gagović, to the position of President of the Municipal Council,” adds Mulaosmanović.

She emphasizes that since then she has been fighting for the realization of constituent status in the local self-government of Trnovo RS.

First, she turned to the Ministry of Local Government and Self-Government of RS, from where she received a response that they are not competent. Mulaosmanović then decided to involve the bodies of DF in resolving the entire situation.

In April this year, the President of DF Željko Komšić sent a letter to the Office of the High Representative in BiH (OHR) requesting a reaction, however, the OHR apparently has its own problems, so they no longer feel like interpreting what they should interpret.

“In the past, the OHR reminded all relevant authorities of the obligation to implement the applicable constitutional and legal provisions on proportional representation of constituent peoples and members of the group of others in the relevant bodies of local self-government in BiH. Regarding possible irregularities in the procedure for electing the Chairperson of the Municipal Council, I would invite you to use available legal remedies, including addressing the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government of RS,” states the response to Komšić from the OHR, signed by F. Javier Leon Diaz.

Thus, the ball of responsibility was first tossed between the Ministry and the OHR, and after Mulaosmanović turned to the OSCE, they did not get far either, with a message that they do not see a problem in all of this. Because of this, Mulaosmanović and the Democratic Front are preparing an appeal to the Constitutional Court of RS, in the fight for the protection of rights.

We also asked Siniša Golijanin, who was elected President of the Municipal Council of Trnovo RS in the current term, for his opinion on the matter.

Golijanin responds to our inquiry about the entire situation: “Mulaosmanović was the President of the Municipal Council of Trnovo RS for, I believe, the past three terms, based on the rule that the mayor and the president of the Municipal Council cannot be from the same people according to the last census. After the 2013 census, Mulaosmanović was elected President of the Municipal Council at the beginning of the 2016-2020 term, because until then the census had not been ratified and data from that census were not applied. However, at the end of 2016, the census was adopted and data from that census began to be applied. According to that census, it is not necessary for the municipal mayor and the President of the Municipal Council to be from different peoples, because one people has an absolute majority,” explains Golijanin.

He adds that they did everything according to the Law and the Statute.

“I turned to the Ministry of Local Government and Self-Government and they told us to contact the Institute of Statistics. Our Statute states that the mayor and the President of the Municipal Council do not have to be from different peoples, and Mulaosmanović was also elected according to the same statute, but according to the 1991 census. We did not change the Statute, we did everything as before, we just applied the 2013 census,” adds Golijanin.

He also emphasizes that the majority representatives offered Mulaosmanović the position of Vice President of the Council, but that she refused it.

“We also thought a little about that representation of peoples, but she strictly wanted the position of President. The offer remains open,” concluded Golijanin in a statement to Patria.

After all this, we also read the Constitution of the entity Republika Srpska, which in Article 97 largely resolves the dilemmas regarding this issue.

Namely, that article was amended by an amendment at one time and now reads: “Constituent peoples and the group of Others shall be proportionally represented in public institutions in Republika Srpska. As a constitutional principle, such proportional representation shall be based on the 1991 census, until Annex 7 is fully implemented, in accordance with the law on civil service of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This principle shall be specified by entity laws. Those laws shall establish specific deadlines and shall regulate the above-mentioned principle in accordance with the regional and ethnic structure of the entity.

Public institutions, as mentioned in the text above, are ministries in the Government of Republika Srpska, municipal authorities, district courts in Republika Srpska, as well as municipal courts in RS”.

Therefore, it is quite clear that the Ministry of Local Government and Self-Government misled the entire municipal majority in the Municipal Council of Trnovo RS, directing them to the Institute of Statistics and the 2013 census.

Because the Constitution of the entity RS, to which the leaders of SDS, DNS and SP swear publicly, has been violated by such decisions. The Statute and laws can never be above the Constitution, and apparently someone did not like that, so they misled the municipal councilors in Trnovo into believing that they could elect bodies according to the 2013 census.

Therefore, Behka Mulaosmanović, councilor of the Democratic Front, and the DF itself are forced to defend the constitutional order of the entity RS through an appeal and legal processes. At the same time, defending her right and the right of the people to constituent status in government bodies.

In summary, the Constitutional Court of RS should not have a difficult job, because the Constitution of RS in this case and Article 97 is clear even to a layman. It is time for an appeal!