This week new talks on BiH Election Law, a resolution or an even deeper crisis?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – A new round of talks/negotiations on the BiH Election Law and limited constitutional changes is expected to be held this week.

Following the visit of US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar last week, who held a series of meetings with officials and called for the unblocking of state institutions, the arrival of US Special Envoy for Electoral Reform Matthew Palmer and Angeline Eichhorst, Director at the European External Action Service, is expected. They held intensive talks in Sarajevo at the end of November and beginning of December with political representatives of the government and opposition regarding the Election Law, but no agreement was reached.

Given the increasingly complicated political situation, further intensified by the adoption of conclusions in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NSRS), the stance of other political actors participating in these talks has also changed.

The SDP has left open the possibility of ending further talks on amendments to the Election Law.

“We want to be absolutely clear: if there is no clear and decisive reaction from the international community against those who have unequivocally set out to destroy the constitutional order, territorial integrity and the Dayton Agreement, the SDP Presidency will, at its session in the middle of the week, make a decision on its further participation, or rather absence from the negotiations. Talking about the election law in a situation where there is an unequivocal attack on the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents additional buying of time for secessionists and diverts attention from the real problems to which we must provide answers,” they said from the SDP BiH.

The SDA also demands a more decisive reaction from the international community following the recent events in the NSRS, and that foreign parties stop equating all sides and clearly identify the culprit. The SDA did not state whether they are considering boycotting all further talks on the BiH Election Law.

The President of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, who also set his envisioned deadline for amendments to the Election Law before the foreigners, namely the end of this year, remains wisely silent. However, Čović is more inclined to claim that it will not be possible to hold elections and mentions the scenario of a „mostarisation of BiH“ if there are no amendments.

Another problem is certainly the budget for 2021, which has not been adopted, and deadlines for preparing the budget for 2022 have already been missed. If temporary financing remains in place, there will be no money for elections.

At this moment, a decisive and unified reaction from the international community is needed, which will either solve the problem or further deepen divisions and push BiH even deeper into a crisis, the biggest since the 92-95 war.