Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina are defined by a parliamentary, representative democratic framework, where the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, named by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Legislative power is vested in both the Council of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Members of the Parliamentary Assembly are chosen according to a proportional representation system. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The system of government established by the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian war in 1995 is an example of consociationalism, as representation is by elites who represent the country's three major ethnic groups termed constituent peoples, with each having a guaranteed share of power.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into two Entities – the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, which are politically autonomous to an extent, as well as the Brčko District, which is jointly administered by both. The Entities have their own constitutions. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Bosnia and Herzegovina a " hybrid regime " in 2022. ^[1]

Dayton Agreement

Main article: Dayton Agreement

See also: Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Due to the Dayton Agreement, signed on 14 December 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina forms an undeclared protectorate, where highest power is given to the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, named by the Peace Implementation Council. The intention of the Agreement was to retain Bosnia's exterior border, while creating a joint multi-ethnic and democratic government based on proportional representation, and charged with conducting foreign, economic, and fiscal policy.

The Dayton Agreement established the Office of the High Representative (OHR) to oversee the implementation of the civilian aspects of the agreement. About 250 international and 450 local staff members are employed by the OHR.

High Representative

Main article: High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo

The highest political authority in the country is the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the chief executive officer for the international civilian presence in the country. The High Representative has power to remove government officials, including court justices, local government members, members of parliament, etc. From its establishment, the Office of the High Representative has sacked 192 Bosnian officials. The mandate of the High Representatives derives from the Dayton Agreement, as confirmed by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), a body with a Steering Board composed of representatives of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the presidency of the European Union, the European Commission, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The Peace Implementation Council has established several criteria for the OHR to be closed, two of which have been completed but must be sustained until all five are completed.

Due to the vast powers of the High Representative over Bosnian politics and essential veto powers, the position has also been compared to that of a viceroy. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

Executive branch

The Presidency Building in central Sarajevo

The Chair of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates amongst three members (a Bosniak, a Serb, and a Croat) every 8 months within their 4-year term. The three members of the Presidency are elected directly by the people, with Federation voters electing both the Bosniak and the Croat member, and Republika Srpska voters electing the Serb member. The Presidency serves as a collective head of state. The Presidency is mainly responsible for the foreign policy and proposing the budget. ^{[6] [7]}

The Prime Minister, formally titled Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is nominated by the Presidency and approved by the House of Representatives. They appoint the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Trade and other ministers as may be appropriate (no more than two thirds of the ministers may be appointed from the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), who assume the office upon the approval by the House of Representatives; also, the Chair appoints deputy ministers (who may not be from the same constituent people as their ministers), who assume the office upon the approval by the House of Representatives.

The Council is responsible for carrying out policies and decisions in the fields of diplomacy, economy, inter-entity relations and other matters as agreed by the entities.

The two Entities have Governments that deal with internal matters not dealt with by the Council of Ministers.

Legislative branch

The Parliamentary Assembly or Parliamentarna skupština is the main legislative body in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It consists of two chambers:

• the House of Peoples or Dom naroda
• the House of Representatives or Predstavnički dom/Zastupnički dom

Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Parliamentary Assembly is responsible for:

• enacting legislation as necessary to implement decisions of the Presidency or to carry out the responsibilities of the Assembly under the Constitution.
• deciding upon the sources and amounts of revenues for the operations of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• approving the budget for the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• deciding ratify treaties and agreements.
• other matters as are necessary to carry out its duties of as are assigned to it by mutual agreement of the Entities.

Bosnia and Herzegovina did not have a permanent election law until 2001, during which time a draft law specified four-year terms for the state and first-order administrative division entity legislatures. The final election law was passed and publicized on 9 September 2001.

House of Peoples

The House of Peoples includes 15 delegates who serve two-year terms. Two-thirds of delegates come from the Federation (5 Croats and 5 Bosniaks) and one-third from the Republika Srpska (5 Serbs). Nine constitutes a quorum in the House of Peoples, provided that at least three delegates from each group are present. Federation representatives are selected by the House of Peoples of the Federation, which has 58 seats (17 Bosniaks, 17 Croats, 17 Serbs, 7 others), and whose members are delegated by cantonal assemblies to serve four-year terms. Republika Srpska representatives are selected by the 28-member Republika Srpska Council of Peoples, which was established in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska; each constituent people has eight delegates, while four delegates are representatives of "others".

House of Representatives

The House of Representatives comprises 42 members elected under a system of proportional representation (PR) for a four-year term. Two thirds of the members are elected from the Federation (14 Croats; 14 Bosniaks) and one third from the Republika Srpska (14 Serbs).

For the 2010 general election, voters in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina elected twenty-one members in five multi-member constituencies by PR, while the remaining seven seats were allocated by compensatory PR. Voters in the Republika Srpska elected nine members in three multi-member constituencies by PR, while the five other seats were allocated by compensatory PR. ^[8]

Political parties and elections

For other political parties, see List of political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Bosniak member
Šefik Džaferović	Party of Democratic Action	212,581	36.61
Denis Bećirović	Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina	194,688	33.53
Fahrudin Radončić	Union for a Better Future of BiH	75,210	12.95
Mirsad Hadžikadić	Independent	58,555	10.09
Senad Šepić	Independent Bloc	29,922	5.15
Amer Jerlagić	Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina	9,655	1.66
Croat member
Željko Komšić	Democratic Front	225,500	52.64
Dragan Čović	Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina	154,819	36.14
Diana Zelenika	Croatian Democratic Union 1990	25,890	6.04
Boriša Falatar	Our Party	16,036	3.74
Jerko Ivanković Lijanović	People's Party Work for Prosperity	6,099	1.42
Serb member
Milorad Dodik	Alliance of Independent Social Democrats	368,210	53.88
Mladen Ivanić	Serb Democratic Party	292,065	42.74
Mirjana Popović	Fair Policy Party	12,731	1.86
Gojko Kličković	Fair Policy Party	10,355	1.52
Invalid/blank votes		120,259	–
Total		1,812,575	100
Registered voters/turnout
Source: CEC

House of Representatives

Party	Federation			Republika Srpska			Total
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Party of Democratic Action	252,081	25.48	8	29,673	4.45	1	281,754	17.01	9	–1
Alliance of Independent Social Democrats	4,663	0.47	0	260,930	39.10	6	265,593	16.03	6	0
SDS–NDP–NS–SRS	–	–	–	162,414	24.34	3	162,414	9.80	3	–2
Social Democratic Party	140,781	14.23	5	9.672	1.45	0	150,453	9.08	5	+2
HDZ BiH–HSS–HSP-HNS–HKDU–HSP-AS BiH–HDU BiH	145,487	14.71	5	4.385	0.66	0	149,872	9.05	5	+1
Democratic Front–Civic Alliance	96,180	9.72	3	–	–	–	96,180	5.81	3	–1
Social Democratic Party	92,906	9.45	3	15,736	2.43	–	108,642	6.66	3	–5
PDP–NDP	194	0.02	0	50,338	7.76	1	50,532	3.10	1	0
Croatian Democratic Union 1990	40,113	4.08	1	–	–	–	40,113	2.46	1	–
Bosnian-Herzegovinian Patriotic Party-Sefer Halilović	35,866	3.65	1	2,452	0.38	0	38,318	2.35	1	+1
Democratic People's Alliance	–	–	–	37,072	5.72	1	37,072	2.27	1	0
Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina	25,677	2.61	0	–	–	–	25,677	1.57	0	–2
Party of Democratic Activity	22,088	2.25	1	–	–	–	22,088	1.35	1	New
Socialist Party	–	–	–	18,732	2.89	0	18,732	1.15	0	0
SPP–SDU–DNZ	12,885	1.31	0	3,429	0.53	0	16,314	1.00	0	–1
People's Party for Work and Betterment	12,927	1.31	0	–	–	–	12,927	0.79	0	–1
Serbian Progressive Party	–	–	–	11,421	1.76	0	11,421	0.70	0	0
Our Party	10,913	1.11	0	–	–	–	10,913	0.67	0	0
Party of Justice and Trust	–	–	–	9,763	1.51	0	9,763	0.60	0	New
Bosnian Party	7,518	0.76	0	–	–	–	7,518	0.46	0	0
Social Democratic Union	5,881	0.6	0	853	0.13	0	6,734	0.41	0	0
Labour Party	5,731	0.58	0	–	–	–	5,731	0.35	0	New
HSP–DSI	5,475	0.56	0	–	–	–	5,475	0.34	0	–
Communist Party	3,075	0.31	0	1,976	0.30	0	5,051	0.31	0	New
HKDU	4,718	0.48	0	–	–	–	4,718	0.29	0	New
Diaspora Party	3,371	0.34	0	–	–	–	3,371	0.21	0	New
New Movement	1,830	0.19	0	–	–	–	1,830	0.11	0	New
Tomo Vukić	–	–	–	397	0.06	0	397	0.02	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	97,720	–	–	58,857	–	–	156,577	–	–	–
Total	1,081,025	100	28	701,156	100	14	1,782,181	100	42	–
Registered voters/turnout			–			–			–	–
Source: CEC

Election history

National House of Representatives:

• elections held 12–13 September 1998:
  • seats by party/coalition – KCD 17, HDZ-BiH 6, SDP-BiH 6, Sloga 4, SDS 4, SRS-RS 2, DNZ 1, NHI 1, RSRS 1
• elections held 5 October 2002:
  • percent of vote by party/coalition - SDA 21.9%, SDS 14.0%, SBiH 10.5%, SDP 10.4%, SNSD 9.8%, HDZ 9.5%, PDP 4.6%, others 19.3%
  • seats by party/coalition – SDA 10, SDS 5, SBiH 6, SDP 4, SNSD 3, HDZ 5, PDP 2, others 7

House of Peoples:

• constituted 4 December 1998
• constituted in fall 2000
• constituted in January 2003
• next to be constituted in 2007

Federal House of Representatives:

• elections held fall 1998:
  • seats by party/coalition – KCD 68, HDZ-BiH 28, SDP-BiH 25, NHI 4, DNZ 3, DSP 2, BPS 2, HSP 2, SPRS 2, BSP 1, KC 1, BOSS 1, HSS 1
• elections held 5 October 2002:
  • seats by party/coalition – SDA 32, HDZ-BiH 16, SDP 15, SBiH 15, other 20

Federal House of Peoples:

• constituted November 1998
• constituted December 2002

Republika Srpska National Assembly:

• elections held fall 1998
  • seats by party/coalition – SDS 19, KCD 15, SNS 12, SRS-RS 11, SPRS 10, SNSD 6, RSRS 3, SKRS 2, SDP 2, KKO 1, HDZ-BiH 1, NHI 1
• elections held fall 2000
• elections held 5 October 2002
  • seats by party/coalition – SDS 26, SNSD 19, PDP 9, SDA 6, SRS 4, SPRS 3, DNZ 3, SBiH 4, SDP 3, others 6

Judicial branch

Constitutional Court

Main article: Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Presidency Building, seat of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the supreme, final arbiter of constitutional matters. The court is composed of nine members: four selected by the House of Representatives of the Federation, two by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, and three are foreign citizens appointed by the President of the European Court of Human Rights after courtesy-consultation with the Presidency.

The initial term of appointee is 5 years, unless they resign or are removed by consensus of other judges. Appointed judges are not eligible for reappointment. Judges subsequently appointed will serve until the age of 70, unless they resign sooner or are removed. Appointments made 5 years into the initial appointments may be governed by a different regulation for selection, to be determined by the Parliamentary Assembly.

Proceedings of the Court are public, and decisions are published. Court rules are adopted by a majority in the Court. Court decisions are final and supposedly binding though this is not always the case, as noted. ^[9]

The Constitutional Court has jurisdiction over deciding in constitutional disputes that arise between the Entities or amongst Bosnia and Herzegovina and an Entity or Entities. Such disputes may be referred only by a member of the Presidency, the Chair of the Council of Ministers, the Chair or Deputy Chair of either of the chambers of the Parliamentary Assembly, or by one-fourth of the legislature of either Entity.

The Court also has appellate jurisdiction within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

State Court

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of three divisions – Administrative, Appellate and Criminal – having jurisdiction over cases related to the state-level law and executive, as well as appellate jurisdiction over cases initiated in the entities.

A War Crimes Chamber was introduced in January 2005, and has adopted two cases transferred from the ICTY, as well as dozens of war crimes cases originally initiated in cantonal courts.

The State Court also deals with organized crime, and economic crime including corruption cases. For example, the former member of the Presidency Dragan Čović was on trial for alleged involvement in organized crime.

Human Rights Chamber

The Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina (Dom za ljudska prava za Bosnu i Hercegovinu) existed between March 1996 and 31 December 2003. It was a judicial body established under the Annex 6 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Dayton Agreement).

Entities

The two Entities have Supreme Courts. Each entity also has a number of lower courts. There are 10 cantonal courts in the Federation, along with a number of municipal courts. The Republika Srpska has seven district (okrug) courts.

High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council

The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (JHPC / VSTV) is the self-regulatory body of the judiciary in the country, tasked with guaranteeing its independence. ^[10] It is based on the continental tradition of self-management of the judiciary. It was formed in 2004.

See also

• Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina

References

1. "Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine" (PDF). Economist Intelligence Unit . 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
2. "Interview: Christian Schwarz-Schilling, High Representative for BiH: "The Last Bosnian Viceroy" | Office of the High Representative". 31 March 2006.
3. A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide: Portraits of Evil and Good , p. 25, at Google Books
4. "Carlos Westendorp, Bosnia's Euro-Spanish viceroy | The Economist". The Economist .
5. "Two visions for Bosnia | The Economist". The Economist .
6. "Constitution Rules of Court European Convention: Article V, Presidency". CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
7. "At a glance: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Political Parties" (PDF). www.europal.europa.eu. September 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina General Elections 3 October 2010, OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report, 17 December 2010, accessed 3 October 2012 (pdf file).
9. Postoje 82 odluke Ustavnog suda koje još nisu provedene, Večernji list 3.1.2014
10. European Commission, European Analytical Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, May 2019

External links

• Office of the High Representative
• Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Government of the Republic of Srpska
• Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bosnia: a single country or an apple of discord?, Bosnian Institute, 12 May 2006
• Bertelsmann Stiftung – Bosnia and Herzegovina Country Report
• Balkaninsight – The future of Bosnia