BiH Presidency must not be partisan: Assassination anniversary proves it!

Dr. Mustafa Cerić, independent candidate for the Bosniak member of the Presidency, has launched an initiative to depoliticise the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP). As he stated today at a press conference, the BiH Presidency has not fulfilled its function properly, which is why members of the highest state body should renounce their party obligations and duties.

- I am convinced that only a depoliticised Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and members free of party colours and obligations can be the solution for the functionality and efficiency of this state institution – he said.

As an example of the inefficiency and poor international position of BiH, Dr. Cerić cited today's commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Sarajevo Assassination.

- Namely, given the significance of this jubilee, we expected that the highest European and world officials - leaders from across the globe - would gather in the capital city to send a strong message at the transition from a century of wars to a century of peace - a call to the entire world to replace weapons and wars with civilisational understanding, mutual trust, and human hope that a better and more just world can be built. However, based on current information, only a small number of world leaders will come to Sarajevo. This should have been the job of the state leadership, not local authorities – said Dr. Cerić. 

He announced that, once elected as the Bosniak member of the Presidency, he will himself relinquish obligations in the European Council for Fatwa and Research based in Dublin, as well as obligations he has in the European Council of Religious Leaders based in Oslo.

- I will free myself from all obligations that are not state-related – said Dr. Cerić.

His initiative to depoliticise the BiH Presidency, as he stated, aims to restore the dignity, efficiency, and constitutional position of the institution of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thus the state as a whole! He called on political entities, as well as all potential candidates for members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the upcoming elections, to support the depoliticisation of the BiH Presidency members.

He said that if the current members of the Presidency, regardless of their soon-to-expire mandates, joined the initiative to depoliticise the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it would be an excellent signal that “we can make positive changes in the upcoming October elections”.

- This means that a practical and procedural mechanism should be adopted that would prevent members of the Presidency, while in office, from being party leaders or party cadres – said Cerić. 

Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina have an obligation to protect the constitutional order and the status of constituent peoples and all citizens, regardless of which political option they belong to.

- However, this has not been the practice so far, and the position of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has often been subject to politicisation, with the highest state institution becoming a battleground for political bickering, conflicts, and blockades by political parties – he added.

The international position of Bosnia and Herzegovina, says Dr. Cerić, is extremely poor, the country's capital at the crossroads of civilisations has been spent, and none of the peoples represented by the three members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina are satisfied with their position.

- Most developed democracies in Europe have a non-partisan position for the president or presidency. As soon as someone assumes this duty, they voluntarily, for the benefit of citizens, renounce their party position and obligations in order to fully dedicate themselves to working for the benefit of all citizens – says Cerić.

Of course, he adds, political parties are an important part of the democratic process, but they are certainly not the only ones.

- It is of crucial importance that, at a time when some political parties do not possess democratic capacities within their structures, we at least continue to build the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the foundation of direct democracy and representation of citizens – said Dr. Cerić.