Schmidt again amended the Election Law and 'corrected the mistake': The current composition of the BiH CEC will remain until 2027

High Representative Christian Schmidt has once again amended the provisions of the BiH Election Law. He corrected a key mistake that Istraga.ba had been warning about from day one. In short, Schmidt prevented the ruling coalition of SNSD-HDZ-SDP-NiP-Naša stranka from taking control of the Central Election Commission of BiH immediately after the local elections by retroactively correcting the law. According to the "corrections", six members of the current composition of the CEC will remain until 2027, as the "retirement" provisions do not apply to them.

“It has been established that a technical error was found in the text of the Decision of the High Representative enacting the Law on Amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (No. 17/24), and accordingly, we submit the correction, as follows:

CORRECTION

OF THE DECISION OF THE HIGH REPRESENTATIVE ENACTING THE LAW ON AMENDMENTS TO THE ELECTION LAW OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

(No. 17/24)

It is necessary to correct the text of Article 20.16b, so that in the first sentence, after the words: “Central Election Commission of BiH”, the words: “are not subject to the condition for reaching old-age pension prescribed in paragraphs (1) and (2) of Article 2.5a of this Law,” and the punctuation mark comma (,) are added.

Consequently, the text of Article 20.16b reads:

“Existing members of the Central Election Commission of BiH are not subject to the condition for reaching old-age pension prescribed in paragraphs (1) and (2) of Article 2.5a of this Law, and will not be obliged to resign or be dismissed for failing to meet the conditions from Article 2.5, paragraph (6), if these conditions did not exist at the time of their appointment. This will not apply to the conditions prescribed in Article 2.5, paragraph (6), points 6) and 7) of this Law,” it is stated in the document signed by the High Representative on April 2, this year.

With the original decision, the High Representative imposed provisions according to which the mandates of CEC members who turn 65 would expire. This means that CEC members Suad Arnautović and Jovan Kalaba are already out of mandate. In addition, Irena Hadžiabdić's mandate has already expired. Instead of these three, the ruling coalition could have appointed three members of the CEC next year, meaning that, with the vote of the current CEC member Vlado Rogić (HDZ), SNSD, HDZ, SDP, NiP, and Naša stranka would have taken control of the Central Election Commission, to which the OHR has given almost unlimited powers regarding the election process. Had the original provisions remained in force, the 2026 elections would have been conducted by a CEC controlled by the ruling coalition.

Realizing the potential danger, High Representative Christian Schmidt decided to supplement the original provisions. According to the correction, the retirement provision will not apply to the current composition of the CEC, which means that Jovan Kalaba and Suad Arnautović cannot be dismissed until the end of their mandate in 2027. Out of the seven members of the CEC, six, after these corrections, should participate in the conduct of the 2026 general elections. Only Irena Hadžiabdić is out of mandate, but she cannot be dismissed either until the local elections this year are held.