Palmer and Eichhorst: No agreement on Election Law, politicians urged to compromise

(Patria) - Members of the collegia of both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina held a meeting with international envoys for electoral reform Matthew Palmer and Angelina Eichhorst.

After the meeting, they gave statements at the Parliament.

Director at the European External Action Service Angelina Eichhorst said after today's meeting with members of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina that they discussed two important topics - the blockade of state institutions and electoral reforms.

"I am very happy to be back in Sarajevo after several weeks. We started the visit with a first meeting this morning. I thank all members of the Joint Collegium of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly for the very useful discussion we had this morning, I think it was a good start, a good introduction to the technical part of the work, which precedes us in the coming days," Eichhorst began her address to journalists after the meeting.

She emphasized that the EU and all its member states call for an urgent unblocking of BiH institutions.

"I will also point out that the existing political crisis is unacceptable to the citizens. It should be equally unacceptable to the delegates of the Parliamentary Assembly, just as it is unacceptable to the EU and its partners. The blockade of the work of the Parliamentary Assembly and institutions at the BiH level simply suspends all vital activities that should be taking place," Eichhorst stated, Klix reports.

The second topic was electoral reforms, on which there is still no compromise among the political elite.

"I believe that the agreement of all political subjects on electoral and constitutional reform is one of the key issues, however, we have not yet reached that agreement. We have asked political subjects for cooperation and compromises, it is very important that all political subjects work on this issue," Eichhorst emphasized.

She stressed that trust in the electoral process has been significantly undermined, and that restoring trust and reforming electoral legislation would make a significant step forward for BiH on its path to the EU.

"We are here to support discussions that would go in the direction of finding solutions in terms of amending all those discriminatory provisions contained in the Election Law, provisions that will improve the integrity of the electoral process while aligning with EU standards," she concluded.

Matthew Palmer said that electoral reform is crucial for strengthening the institutional framework of BiH.

"And I want to be clear about what the goals of this process are: the first is to ensure the integrity of the electoral process, it is important that every vote is heard and that every vote is counted. And what is particularly important is that the citizens of BiH understand that this is the case. Second, what is very important for the citizens of BiH is that they have the opportunity to run in an equal race for positions at various levels. This means a European perspective for BiH and is fully in line with the Dayton framework, the three constituent peoples, others, two entities and Brčko District. Third, it is important that the institutions of the Federation of BiH are strong and functional. What is also important is that the FBiH is in balance with the RS, which will enable a functional Dayton system that will provide good services to all citizens of BiH," Palmer stated.