2024-07-26 03:14:26
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia has temporarily annulled the electoral law of the Bosnian Republika Srpska, because according to the judges there is a danger that the document will undermine the political stability in the country, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
The law was passed in April by Republika Srpska lawmakers, transferring the power to hold elections from Bosnia’s central government institutions to local Bosnian Serb authorities.
This election law was seen by his opponents as another in a series of measures orchestrated by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who has long campaigned for the separation of Republika Srpska from Bosnia.
According to the terms of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the inter-ethnic war in Bosnia in the period 1992-1995, the country was divided into two semi-autonomous parts – the Republika Srpska, populated mainly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Muslim-Croat Federation (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), where Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats live. Each part has its own government, parliament and police, but the two parts are connected through common state-level institutions, including the judiciary, army, security services and tax administration.
The electoral law “seriously undermines the role of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the Constitutional Court said in a statement yesterday.
The court pointed out that the law also poses dangers in connection with the upcoming local elections in October.
The law threatens to “cause irreparable damage to the democratic electoral process (…) and the rule of law,” the court said.
Earlier this month, the international body tasked with implementing the pact that ended the war in Bosnia – the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) – also strongly condemned the law.
The international community will not allow state competences to be impaired by establishing a parallel electoral system in the Republika Srpska, the council said.
In May, the Constitutional Court also rejected a law passed by Republika Srpska that would have allowed the Bosnian Serb part of the country to expropriate national property.
Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, known for his close relations with Moscow, is also currently on trial for refusing to implement decisions made by the international community’s top representative in Bosnia, Christian Schmitt, who is in charge of implementing the Dayton Agreement.