Two majorities possible at state level, one in the House of Representatives and the other in the House of Peoples

Tomorrow in Sarajevo, the constitutive session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held. Among other things, the future deputies will take their solemn declarations, and the election of the Chairperson, the First and Second Deputy Chairpersons of the House of Representatives, as well as the election of members of the Commission for the Preparation of the Election of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be carried out, writes the news agency Patria.

In the new convocation of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Party of Democratic Action will have 10 deputies, nine from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and one from the Republika Srpska. The Democratic Front will have five, the Alliance for a Better Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina four, the HDZ and the parties in coalition with them four, the SDP BiH three, the HDZ 1990 one, as well as BPS and A-SDA. The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats will have six deputies, the SDS five, the PDP-NDP one, and the DNS one deputy.

Thus, in the seventh convocation of the House of Representatives, there will be 14 deputies from the Republika Srpska and 28 from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were elected in the General Elections on October 12.

From the SDA, the party with the largest number of mandates in this convocation, it has been confirmed that they will propose Šefik Džaferović for the position of Chairperson. The proposal of the SDS, on behalf of the Alliance for Changes, according to unconfirmed information, is that one of the deputies of this house will be Mladen Bosić, the president of the SDS. There is also no official confirmation, but no denial, that the third member of the collegium is Borjana Krišto, from the bloc gathered around the HDZ BiH.

The SDA, DF, and HDZ BiH have remained committed to the agreement that they will form the government at the state level with the Alliance for Changes, but it is now uncertain how the House of Peoples will be formed.

In other words, it is clear that three delegates will belong to the parties gathered around the SNSD and Milorad Dodik. Thus, there is a fear that many laws and agreements of the ruling parties will be blocked in the House of Peoples, if that suits Dodik.

Also, there is a possibility that, according to the number of delegate seats, one majority will be in the House of Representatives and another in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the provisions of the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the constitution of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina is carried out immediately after the convening of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and no later than 30 days from the day of the publication of the election results.

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

This week, consultations of the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina with parliamentary parties regarding the appointment of the mandate holder of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina will also begin. This means, if we are to judge by the statements of the leaders of the parties that will form the majority in the House of Representatives, the formation of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina is expected by the New Year. It remains to be seen how the state government will function if there is a different majority in the two houses of the state Parliament.

HOW IT WAS IN 2010

As a reminder, in 2010, the House of Representatives was constituted only in June 2011, that is, seven months after the elections. The slowness in constituting the government, and especially the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, prompted a reaction from the Office of the High Representative, which even threatened sanctions against the parties that then formed the government. The formation of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina was delayed by a full 16 months.