Bosnia Election Commission Accused of Upholding Discrimination

Bosnia's Central Election Commission, the CIK, has been accused of perpetuating discrimination in the country after it ruled that Svetozar Pudaric - an independent candidate for the election in October - could not stand as he is Bosnian Serb living in the wrong entity - the mainly Bosniak and Croatian Federation entity.

Under current law, it ruled, Pudaric cannot be elected to the post of Bosnian Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency because he does not reside in the mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska.

"This [CIK ruling] was expected, but it shows us that nothing has been done since a similar case in 2009, and with everything happening now with the Election Law, we can only hope that new politicians will deal with problem after the election," Ivana Maric, a Sarajevo-based political analyst, told BIRN.

"Since they [the politicans] are avoiding this problem, the only solution is to change them, if citizens wants that, and then deal with this problem after the election," she added.

Bosnia's constitution states that the Presidency consists of three representatives of the country's three constituent, or constitutive, peoples, Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.

The Bosniak and Bosnian Croat members of the Presidency are elected from the Federation entity, while the Serb member is elected from the Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska.

Pudaric himself told regional N1 on Friday that he was pleased that the case had at least raised the issue again.

"I am one of the few people who are happy to have lost a dispute. I am happy my candidacy for the Presidency was denied because this entire activity was launched to finally prove that systemic discrimination exists," he said.

Legal cases have established before that Bosnia...