Skaka, municipal and city councillor and deputy mayor will vote for himself for mayor

Abdulah Skaka (SDA) is currently a councillor in the Stari Grad Municipal Council, a city councillor in the City Council, and Deputy Mayor of the City of Sarajevo. According to the BiH Election Law, this is incompatible, as one person cannot simultaneously hold positions in both the legislative and executive branches, Patria reports.

The BiH Election Law, Article 1.8, paragraph 4, provides for exceptional situations in which this can still occur.

One person may hold at most one directly elected public office or at most one directly and one indirectly elected office, unless otherwise regulated by this Law. It is incompatible to simultaneously perform these functions with functions in executive bodies of government, except during the period until executive bodies elected in regular elections in the same electoral cycle are constituted - states the BiH Election Law.

Although Skaka is relying precisely on this provision, this article of the Election Law does not apply to him. Namely, this refers to a situation involving executive bodies of government elected in regular elections, i.e., directly.

The Mayor and Deputy Mayors of the City of Sarajevo are elected indirectly - they are not elected by citizens in regular elections but by the City Council.

Members of the Central Election Commission of BiH, especially Branko Petrić, also played into Skaka's hands, as he asked his colleagues to annul the provision of the Instruction that verifies candidates for mayors.

After only two years since its adoption, and without ever having been applied, this provision was adapted. Thus, the last obstacle was removed for the CEC, when Skaka submits his candidacy, to conduct a verification based on which it would be established that he holds incompatible functions.

Skaka will thus, when the new leadership of the City Council is elected, from the position of city councillor and deputy mayor, vote for himself for mayor.

The constitutive session of the City Council has been announced for February 6.

How the Mayor of Brčko was elected

For the Mayor of the Brčko District, Siniša Milić (SNSD) was elected in the Assembly. Although the Instruction, i.e., the provision on candidate verification, was in effect when he was elected, no one submitted his name to the Central Election Commission of BiH. Thus, it could happen that, for example, Milić only has Serbian citizenship, and not BiH citizenship, and thus serves as mayor as a foreign citizen.