Solution Proposed to Resolve Bosnian Electoral Law Crisis

MPs in the entity parliament in Bosnia's Bosniak- and Croat-dominated Federation could vote in the coming weeks on a new draft electoral law put forward by five political parties - aimed at averting the possibility of general elections going ahead in October without a legal mechanism to elect the Federation parliament's upper chamber.

But the plan has been drawn up without the main Croat party in Bosnia, the Croat Democratic Union, HDZ, which insists that the reform of electoral law can only be resolved in the state-level parliament.

The HDZ could invoke a legal mechanism that would delay the proposed legislation and could even scupper it completely.

The electoral law problem started in July last year when Constitutional Court cancelled parts of the legislation outlining the legal mechanism for the election of the Federation House of Peoples, after having ruled them unconstitutional.

If general elections go ahead in October without this legal mechanism, it would leave the Federation entity without a president, parliament and government. The state parliament would also be left without its upper chamber.

Many fear that this outcome could lead to the collapse of the country's institutions.

The parties who agreed on the new draft are already involved in long-running negotiations on reforming Bosnian electoral law - the main Bosniak parties, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Alliance for Better Future SBB, the main opposition party, Social Democratic Party, SDP, the Democratic Front, DF, and Nasa Stranka.

"Representatives of these five parties agreed on the text of the law which is completely in line with the constitution of the Federation and which fulfils the principles of the ruling in Ljubic's case," Elvir...