ISSN 1847-2397 godište II broj 1 2009. | volume II number 1 2009

Maja Sahadžić: The Electoral System of Bosnia and Herzegovinasuvremene TEME, (2009.) God. 2, Br. 1CONTEMPORARY issues, (2009) Vol. 2, No. 1the Dayton Peace Accords. But, in order to seethe differences, we have to give an overview ofthe temporary electoral system in Bosnia andHerzegovina.4. The Temporary Electoral System ofBosnia and HerzegovinaThe temporary electoral system of Bosniaand Herzegovina was based on Annex IIIof Dayton Peace Accords (Elections in Bosniaand Herzegovina). In compliance with this Annex,Article II (1) defines the role of the OSCEin elections. This role requested the parties ofagreement to adopt and put in place an electionsprogramme for Bosnia and Herzegovina,to supervise the preparation and conduction ofelections for legislative and executive governmentbodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (state,entity, cantonal and municipal level). Article V ofDayton Peace Accords defined the agreementof Parties to create a permanent Election Commissionwith responsibilities to conduct futureelections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Accordingto Article II (3), the OSCE was to establish aProvisional Election Commission in Bosnia andHerzegovina.In accordance with Article III (1) the ProvisionalElection Commission adopted a largenumber of rules and regulations related to theregistration of political parties and independentcandidates; the eligibility of candidates and voters;the role of domestic and international electionobservers; the ensuring of an open and fairelectoral campaign; as well as the establishment,publication and certification of final electionresults. Those rules and regulations hadpriority over domestic rules and regulations.The Provisional Election Commission had wideresponsibilities. 7 According to Article III (3), theProvisional Election Commission consisted ofthe Head of the OSCE Mission, the High Representativeor his or her designee, representativesof the Parties, and other persons as the Head ofthe OSCE Mission, in consultation with the Parties,may have decided. The Head of the OSCEMission was also Chairman of the Commission.In the event of disputes within the Commission,the decision of the Chairman was final.7 Those responsibilities can be described as supervision ofthe electoral process in order to obtain free and fair elections,determine provisions for voter registration, ensure compliancewith the electoral rules and regulations establishedpursuant Dayton Peace Accords, accredit observers frominternational organisations and foreign and domestic nongovernmentalorganisations, etc. (Annex III, Article III(2),Dayton Peace Accords).According to Annex III of the DaytonPeace Accords, the Provisional Election Commissionadopted the Electoral Rules and Regulationsfor the Elections on Local and HigherLevel in Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 in 1996 andthe Electoral Rules and Regulations for MunicipalElections in Bosnia and Herzegovina 9in 1997. Those rules regulated the process ofregistration and voting of displaced persons andrefugees. It has to be mentioned that the ProvisionalElection Commission also adopted theElectoral Rules and Regulations 10 in 2000 thatwere used to hold elections in Bosnia and Herzegovinauntil the Electoral Law of Bosnia andHerzegovina was introduced.General electoral principles have beensettled in the Attachment to Annex III on Electionsby the Document of the Second Meetingof the Conference on the Human Dimension ofthe Conference on Security and Cooperation inEurope, Copenhagen, 1990 (called the Copenhagenregulations) in Paragraph 7. 11Annex III of Dayton Peace Accords andRules and regulations of the Provisional ElectionCommission have been applied to the electionsfor: the House of Representatives of the ParliamentaryAssembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina,the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, theHouse of Representatives of the Parliament ofthe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, theNational Assembly of the Republic of Srpska 12 ,8 see: Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22/96,25/96, 29/96, 21/969 see: Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 10/97,15/9710 see: Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1/0011 By Copenhagen regulations elections are free held at reasonableintervals, as established by law; regulations permitall seats in at least one chamber of the national legislatureto be freely contested in a popular vote; guarantee universaland equal suffrage to adult citizens; ensure that votes arecast by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedure,and that they are counted and reported honestly with the officialresults made public; respect the right of citizens to seekpolitical or public office, individually or as representatives ofpolitical parties or organisations, without discrimination; fullfreedom of political parties or other political organisation;ensure conducting political campaigning in a fair and freeatmosphere; ensure equal access to the media on a non –discriminatory basis for all political groupings and individualswishing to participate in the electoral process; ensure thatcandidates who obtain the necessary number of votes requiredby law are duly installed in office and are permittedto remain in office until their term expires or is otherwisebrought to an end in a manner that is regulated by law inconformity with democratic parliamentary and constitutionalprocedures.12 Additional intervening but independent house named Councilof Peoples of the Republic of Srpska has been establishedby High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovinacentar za politološka istraživanjathe political science research centrewww.cpi.hr65