Sarajevo SDP wrote to the OHR and Cantonal Prosecutor's Office regarding the election of city councilors

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - We hereby wish to provide you with information regarding the election of councilors to the City Council of Sarajevo and the election of the Mayor of Sarajevo, who is elected by the City Council.

On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, elections for the City Council of Sarajevo were held in the last Sarajevo municipality that conducted these elections.

First of all, it is important to emphasize that the process of electing city councilors has not been completed within the deadlines stipulated by the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Statute of the City of Sarajevo. According to the Election Law of BiH (Article 13.12), municipalities were obliged to complete the process of electing councilors within 15 days after the constitutive sessions were held. Also, according to the Statute of the City of Sarajevo (Article 23), the City Council should have been constituted no later than 30 days from the date of the constitution of the last Municipal Council in the municipalities that make up the City of Sarajevo, according to the Sarajevo SDP.

"The election of city councilors of the City of Sarajevo was organized in accordance with the Instructions of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the election materials were submitted to the Central Election Commission within 24 hours. Taking into account the previously stated facts that the deadlines for the constitution of the council have passed, we appeal to the Central Election Commission to complete the allocation of mandates in accordance with the Statute of the City of Sarajevo as soon as possible. Article 23 of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, which regulates the election of the City Council of the City of Sarajevo, states: 'The City Council is constituted within 30 days from the date of the constitution of the municipal councils of the municipalities that make up the City of Sarajevo (hereinafter: municipal council). Mandates for the City Council are awarded to candidates from candidate lists after the elections in the municipal council for the City Council have been conducted, in accordance with the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the manner and procedure prescribed by this article. A candidate list from paragraph 2 of this article may be proposed by a political party, coalition, list of independent candidates and/or a group of municipal councilors. A group of municipal councilors consists of two or more councilors. The candidate list from paragraph 3 of this article includes exclusively municipal councilors whose mandates have been confirmed and verified in the municipal council to which the candidate list is proposed for the election of the City Council, and in addition to their name and surname, their national affiliation must also be stated,'" the statement added.

When forming the candidate list, the proposer from paragraph 3 of this article takes into account that the municipal council has the obligation to delegate at least one candidate from each constituent people to the City Council, and the municipal council in which, compared to other municipal councils, a larger number of municipal councilors from a certain constituent people, or from the others, is represented, has the obligation to delegate a proportionally larger number of councilors belonging to a particular constituent people, or councilors from the others, to the City Council. The municipal council can vote on the proposed candidate list if that candidate list has been certified by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The elections in the municipal council for the City Council are secret, and municipal councilors vote by each municipal councilor taking one ballot paper containing all proposed candidate lists and casting their (one) vote for only one of the candidate lists. Otherwise, the ballot paper is invalid.

After the voting is completed, the votes for individual candidate lists are tallied. Mandates for the City Council are awarded to candidate lists according to the number of votes received using the proportional representation system of candidates from the candidate lists in accordance with the Election Law of BiH, i.e., they are distributed in order, starting from the largest quotient, until all mandates from the municipal council for the City Council are distributed. The distribution of mandates among candidates from the same candidate list is done according to the order of candidates on the candidate list.

If the same quotient is obtained for determining the last, seventh mandate, the mandate is awarded by drawing lots. The drawing of lots is carried out immediately after the announcement of the results in the presence of all municipal councilors, in a manner decided by the municipal council. If, through the elections conducted in this way in the municipal council for the City Council, the minimum required representation of councilors from a particular constituent people, as stated in paragraph 5 of this article, is not achieved among the seven elected city councilors, instead of the elected councilor for the City Council with the smallest quotient from the people for whom the minimum representation is met even without that councilor, a municipal councilor belonging to the people who are not represented in the required number among the delegates from that municipal council, and who is on the candidate list with the next highest quotient, is delegated.

If there is no qualified candidate among the remaining candidates on the candidate lists, the next highest quotient is determined, and so on, until a qualified candidate is found. If a qualified councilor cannot be delegated in the manner described in paragraph 13 of this article, a municipal councilor who received the highest number of citizen votes in the elections for the municipal council and who belongs to the people whose minimum representation in the City Council needs to be ensured by delegation from the Municipal Council is delegated to the City Council, regardless of the electoral result of the political party or coalition, or the result achieved as an independent candidate.

If a qualified candidate cannot be delegated from the list of candidates of a political party, coalition, list of independent candidates, or group of councilors for the local elections for the municipal council, whose candidate list received a mandate that is being withdrawn in the elections in the municipal council for the city councilors, a qualified candidate who received the highest number of citizen votes in the local elections for the municipal council is delegated, regardless of the electoral result achieved by the political party or coalition, or achieved as an independent candidate. The finally obtained election results in the municipal council for the City Council are confirmed by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which certifies that the elections were conducted in accordance with the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and issues certificates to the city councilors who have been awarded mandates.

If, after the implementation of all the above-mentioned procedures from this article, the prescribed national representation of city councilors is not achieved, additional procedures prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the City Council are applied to resolve this issue.

After the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina allocates the mandates to the city councilors, we call upon the Chairperson of the City Council of Sarajevo to convene a constitutive session as soon as possible, as the 30-day deadline stipulated by the Statute has already expired. It is the duty of the Chairperson to, in accordance with Article 5 of the Rules of Procedure of the City Council of Sarajevo, schedule a constitutive session within 14 days from the date of receipt of the final decision of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the confirmation of the results of indirect elections and the allocation of mandates for the City Council of Sarajevo, and within 30 days from the constitution of the last Municipal Council in the City of Sarajevo (deadline expired).

We appeal to the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina to pay special attention to the activities of the Central Election Commission when allocating mandates according to Article 23 of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, as this is one of the more complex electoral processes within the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to our interpretation, guided by the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, and the previous practice of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the elected councilors to the City Council are:

NOTE: Those marked in green are elected

In the following part of the letter, we want to explain in detail the election and allocation of mandates to these individuals:

MUNICIPALITY OF STARI GRAD SARAJEVO
 

In accordance with Article 23 of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, after the voting, the 7 highest quotients are:
8.00 Seid Škaljić (Bosniak)
8.00 Vedad Deljković (Bosniak)
8.00 Almedin Miladin (Bosniak)
7.00 Muamer Mekić (Bosniak)
2.66 Vedran Dodik (Croat)
2.66 Nermin Džino (Croat)
2.66 Mirza Batalović (Bosniak)

However, among the 7 highest quotients, there are no councilors of Serb nationality in accordance with the Statute. (When forming the candidate list, the proposer from paragraph 3 of this article takes into account that the municipal council has the obligation to delegate at least one candidate from each constituent people to the City Council).

Guided by the same article of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo (If, through the elections conducted in this way in the municipal council for the City Council, the minimum required representation of councilors from a particular constituent people, as stated in paragraph 5 of this article, is not achieved among the seven elected city councilors, instead of the elected councilor for the City Council with the smallest quotient from the people for whom the minimum representation is met even without that councilor, a municipal councilor belonging to the people who are not represented in the required number among the delegates from that municipal council, and who is on the candidate list with the next highest quotient, is delegated.)

In accordance with the cited part of Article 23 of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, on the lists with the smallest quotient of 2.66, there is a candidate of Serb nationality, Srđan Simonović, to whom the mandate is awarded instead of Nermin Džino (there is a sufficient number of elected councilors of Croatian nationality). After this change, the list of elected councilors from Stari Grad looks like this: 8.00 Seid Škaljić (Bosniak) 8.00 Vedad Deljković (Bosniak) 8.00 Almedin Miladin (Bosniak) 7.00 Muamer Mekić (Bosniak) 2.66 Vedran Dodik (Croat) 2.66 Mirza Batalović (Bosniak) 0.88 Srđan Simonović (Serb).

The Statute of the City also stipulates that there must be at least 6 councilors from each people in the City Council and that "the municipal council in which, compared to other municipal councils, a larger number of municipal councilors from a certain constituent people, or from the others, is represented, has the obligation to delegate to the City Council, proportionally more councilors belonging to a particular constituent people, or councilors from the others."

Considering that only 5 councilors of Serb nationality were elected in all four Municipal Councils, and that the Municipality of Stari Grad Sarajevo has 2 elected councilors, both are delegated to the City Council of Sarajevo.

The smallest quotient (2.66) is held by lists on which Mirza Batalović (Bosniak) and Vedran Dodik (Croat) are found. The mandate of Vedran Dodik cannot be withdrawn, and the mandate should be awarded to the candidate list on which Mirza Batalović is found. Considering that the aforementioned list does not have councilors of Serb nationality on its list, that list loses the mandate (in the appendix to the letter, we provide you with the Decision on an identical case from 2013 and the mandate of Tatjana Ljujić Mijatović), and the mandate is awarded to the elected councilor of Serb nationality, which is Jasmin Skorupan with a quotient of 2.33.

After applying all the rules prescribed by the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, the ELECTED councilors from the Municipal Council of Stari Grad Sarajevo to the City Council of Sarajevo are: 8.00 Seid Škaljić (Bosniak) 8.00 Vedad Deljković (Bosniak) 8.00 Almedin Miladin (Bosniak) 7.00 Muamer Mekić (Bosniak) 2.66 Vedran Dodik (Croat) 2.33 Jasmin Skorupan (Serb) 0.88 Srđan Simonović (Serb).

MUNICIPALITY OF CENTAR SARAJEVO
 

In accordance with Article 23 of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, after the voting, the 7 highest quotients are:

8.00 Amra Zulfikarpašić (Bosniak)
7.00 Jasmin Ademović (Bosniak)
7.00 Nihad Uk (Other)
6.00 Lajla Ćosović (Bosniak)
3.00 Velija Katica (Bosniak)
2.66 Biljana Lazarević (Serb)
2.66 Senada Bosno (Bosniak) or Alen Girt (Other) (the draw has not been conducted as the CEC will later consider two invalid ballots)

However, among the 7 highest quotients, there are no councilors of Croatian nationality in accordance with the Statute. (When forming the candidate list, the proposer from paragraph 3 of this article takes into account that the municipal council has the obligation to delegate at least one candidate from each constituent people to the City Council).

Guided by the same article of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo (If, through the elections conducted in this way in the municipal council for the City Council, the minimum required representation of councilors from a particular constituent people, as stated in paragraph 5 of this article, is not achieved among the seven elected city councilors, instead of the elected councilor for the City Council with the smallest quotient from the people for whom the minimum representation is met even without that councilor, a municipal councilor belonging to the people who are not represented in the required number among the delegates from that municipal council, and who is on the candidate list with the next highest quotient, is delegated.)

In accordance with the cited part of Article 23 of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, on the lists with the smallest quotient of 2.66, there is a candidate of Croatian nationality, Željko Majstorović, to whom the mandate is awarded instead of Senada Bosno (there is a sufficient number of elected councilors of Bosniak nationality). After this change, the list of elected councilors from Centar looks like this:

8.00 Amra Zulfikarpašić (Bosniak), 7.00 Jasmin Ademović (Bosniak), 7.00 Nihad Uk (Other), 6.00 Lajla Ćosović (Bosniak), 3.00 Velija Katica (Bosniak) 2.66 Biljana Lazarević (Serb) 0.72 Željko Majstorović (Croat)
The Statute of the City also stipulates that there must be at least 6 councilors from each people in the City Council and that "the municipal council in which, compared to other municipal councils, a larger number of municipal councilors from a certain constituent people, or from the others, is represented, has the obligation to delegate to the City Council, proportionally more councilors belonging to a particular constituent people, or councilors from the others."

"Considering that only 5 councilors of Serb nationality were elected in all four Municipal Councils, and that the Municipality of Centar Sarajevo has 2 elected councilors, both are delegated to the City Council of Sarajevo.

The smallest quotient is held by Biljana Lazarević (2.66), however, there are no more councilors of Serb nationality on her list, and the mandate cannot be taken from Biljana Lazarević because she is also of Serb nationality. The next smallest quotient is 3.00 on Velija Katica's list. Considering that there are no councilors of Serb nationality on Velija Katica's list, that list loses the mandate (in the appendix to the letter, we provide you with the Decision on an identical case from 2013 and the mandate of Tatjana Ljujić Mijatović), and the mandate is awarded to the elected councilor of Serb nationality, which is Dragan Stevanović with a quotient of 0.72.

After applying all the rules prescribed by the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, the ELECTED councilors from the Municipal Council of Centar Sarajevo to the City Council of Sarajevo are: 8.00 Amra Zulfikarpašić (Bosniak) 7.00 Jasmin Ademović (Bosniak) 7.00 Nihad Uk (Other) 6.00 Lajla Ćosović (Bosniak) 2.66 Biljana Lazarević (Serb) 1.14 Dragan Stevanović (Serb) 0.72 Željko Majstorović (Croat)        

MUNICIPALITY OF NOVI GRAD SARAJEVO

In accordance with Article 23 of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, after the voting, the 7 highest quotients are:

6.00 Adi Škaljić (Bosniak)
5.00 Alem Logo (Bosniak)
5.00 Drago Jurić (Croat)
5.00 Enisa Spahić (Bosniak)
5.00 Bajro Biber (Bosniak)
4.00 Toni Vukadin (Croat)
2.00 Vernes Čosić (Bosniak)

However, among the 7 highest quotients, there are no councilors of Serb nationality in accordance with the Statute. (When forming the candidate list, the proposer from paragraph 3 of this article takes into account that the municipal council has the obligation to delegate at least one candidate from each constituent people to the City Council).

The smallest quotient is 2.00 for councilor Vernes Čosić, and that mandate is lost. However, there are no elected councilors of Serb nationality in the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo, which is why the provision of the Statute that states: "If a qualified councilor cannot be delegated in the manner described in paragraph 13 of this article, a qualified candidate with the highest number of citizen votes is delegated to the City Council, from the list of candidates that was registered in the local elections for that municipal council, and by the political party, coalition, or group of councilors whose candidate list received a mandate that is being withdrawn in the elections in the municipal council for the City Council" is applied.

After the procedure from the Statute of the City of Sarajevo has been applied, the mandate of Vernes Čosić, who is on the list of the political entity "Naša stranka" (Our Party), is withdrawn. The person of Serb nationality from the list of candidates of Naša stranka who received the highest number of votes, but was not elected to the Municipal Council, is Ratko Orozović, to whom the mandate withdrawn from Vernes Čosić is awarded.

After applying all the rules prescribed by the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, the ELECTED councilors from the Municipal Council of Novi Grad Sarajevo to the City Council of Sarajevo are: 6.00 Adi Škaljić (Bosniak) 5.00 Alem Logo (Bosniak) 5.00 Drago Jurić (Croat) 5.00 Enisa Spahić (Bosniak) 5.00 Bajro Biber (Bosniak) 4.00 Toni Vukadin (Croat) Ratko Orozović (Serb) - From the deep list of "Naša stranka".

MUNICIPALITY OF NOVO SARAJEVO
In accordance with Article 23 of the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, after the voting, the 7 highest quotients are:

8.00 Elvedin Kororora (Bosniak)
5.00 Samir Bejić (Other)
5.00 Mirela Džehverović (Other)
4.00 Alma Čengić (Bosniak)
3.00 Danijela Šahat (Croat)
3.00 Marijela Hašimbegović (Croat)
3.00 Edin Rovčanin (Bosniak)

However, among the 7 highest quotients, there are no councilors of Serb nationality in accordance with the Statute. (When forming the candidate list, the proposer from paragraph 3 of this article takes into account that the municipal council has the obligation to delegate at least one candidate from each constituent people to the City Council).

Also, the Municipal Council of Novo Sarajevo has the highest number of elected councilors of Croatian nationality compared to other Municipal Councils, which is why it must provide at least 2 councilors to the City Council. ("the municipal council in which, compared to other municipal councils, a larger number of municipal councilors from a certain constituent people, or from the others, is represented, has the obligation to delegate to the City Council, proportionally more councilors belonging to a particular constituent people, or councilors from the others.").

Therefore, due to the fact that 3 lists have the smallest quotient of 3.00, but at least 2 councilors of Croatian nationality must be delegated to the City Council of Sarajevo, and one councilor of Serb nationality, and that councilors of Croatian nationality in Novo Sarajevo have higher quotients than councilors of Croatian nationality in Stari Grad and Centar, in this case, the mandate is lost by the councilor from the smallest quotient from the Bosniak people, of whom there are enough elected, and that is Edin Rovčanin.

After applying all the rules prescribed by the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, the ELECTED councilors from the Municipal Council of Novo Sarajevo to the City Council of Sarajevo are: 8.00 Elvedin Kororora (Bosniak) 5.00 Samir Bejić (Other) 5.00 Mirela Džehverović (Other) 4.00 Alma Čengić (Bosniak) 3.00 Danijela Šahat (Croat) 3.00 Marijela Hašimbegović (Croat) 1.00 Srđan Srdić (Serb).

COMPOSITION OF THE CITY COUNCIL
 

After the procedures have been carried out in accordance with the Statute of the City of Sarajevo, the composition of the City Council that meets all criteria is:
13 Councilors from the Bosniak people:
Seid Škaljić (Bosniak)
Vedad Deljković (Bosniak)
Almedin Miladin (Bosniak)
Muamer Mekić (Bosniak)
Elvedin Kororora (Bosniak)
Alma Čengić (Bosniak)
Adi Škaljić (Bosniak)
Alem Logo (Bosniak)
Enisa Spahić (Bosniak)
Bajro Biber (Bosniak)
Jasmin Ademović (Bosniak)
Lajla Ćosović (Bosniak)
Amra Zulfikarpašić (Bosniak)
6 councilors from the Croatian people:
Vedran Dodik (Croat)
Danijela Šahat (Croat)
Marijela Hašimbegović (Croat)
Drago Jurić (Croat)
Toni Vukadin (Croat)
Željko Majstorović (Croat)
6 councilors from the Serb people:
Srđan Simonović (Serb)
Dragan Stevanović (Serb)
Biljana Lazarević (Serb)
Srđan Srdić (Serb)
Ratko Orozović (Serb)
Jasmin Skorupan (Serb)
3 councilors from the Others:
Samir Bejić (Other)
Mirela Džehverović (Other)
Nihad Uk (Other)

We need to inform you about this process before the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina holds its session and distributes the mandates, because what worries the Sarajevo SDP is that some elected officials in the Centar Sarajevo Municipal Council boast that through trading influence in the Central Election Commission of BiH, they will change the model of electing city councilors and democratic will, and secure a mandate for themselves even though they have a lower quotient than other people from the same nation.

Considering that violations of the Criminal Code of FBiH, abuse of influence, receiving or giving bribes or other benefits are possible this time as well, we call on the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton to undertake preventive supervisory activities over elected officials, and to take seriously all statements about vote buying or other types of services.