Law on Electoral Units in Parliamentary Procedure, but Not on Today's Session Agenda

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The proposal of the law on electoral units and the number of mandates in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be sent into parliamentary procedure today, but it will not be on the agenda of today's session of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the FBiH, confirmed for the Patria agency the head of the SDP Club in that house, Elvir Karajbić.

The SDP of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced on Monday that there is a majority in the Federal Parliament that will vote for the adoption of the Proposal of the law on electoral units and the number of mandates in the Parliament of the Federation of BiH.

It was pointed out that the heads of the clubs of the Party of Democratic Action, the Alliance for a Better Future, the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Front and Our Party will formally confirm in writing their support for this law.

The Constitutional Court of BiH earlier deleted the provisions of the Election Law of BiH relating to the election of delegates to the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the FBiH. The authorities failed to reach a new agreement on the election of delegates, after which this issue remained unresolved less than four months before the elections.

The HDZ BiH proposes that Croatian delegates to the House of Peoples of the FBiH be elected only from those cantons where Croats are the majority, as well as Bosniaks from cantons where that people is the majority, which is unacceptable to other parties in the FBiH, who state that such a proposal by the HDZ BiH is contrary to European practice.

Karajbić stated yesterday that the Proposal of the law on electoral units, supported by the SDP, DF, SDA, NS and SBB, meets European standards.

When asked whether the HDZ BiH can block the Proposal of amendments to the law on electoral units in the House of Peoples of the FBiH, Karajbić explains:

„If in the House of Peoples '30 hands' support this proposal of the law, the law is considered adopted. Of course, any representative of the constituent peoples can raise the issue of vital national interest. If that happens, the Constitutional Court of BiH determines whether the law is constitutional. If the Court assesses that there was no violation of vital national interest, the law is considered valid“.

The head of the SDP Club in the Parliament of the FBiH believes that the Proposal of the law on electoral units supported by five political parties from the FBiH is constitutional and in accordance with European principles.

„A constitutional category is that from each constituent people, at least one delegate is elected to the House of Peoples of the FBiH from all cantons in the Federation, if that delegate is elected /to the cantonal assembly/. With the new proposal, we also provided for a second round, which says that if a delegate cannot be elected in this way in the House of Peoples of the FBiH, /because he was not elected in the canton/, then his seat is filled from those cantons where there are enough representatives of that constituent people“, said Karajbić, Patria reports.