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. 1quirements numerated in Article 4.2 21 . In orderto participate in the elections, a politicalparty must be registered with the competentauthority in accordance with the law as regulatedin Article 4.3 22 . Rules of Conduct in theElection Campaign are regulated in Article7.1 23 .The Electoral Law of Bosnia and Herzegovinaspecified elections for different levelsof executive and legislative branches of government:21 The candidate must be recorded in the Central VotersRegister in the municipality in which he or she is standingfor office or in the municipality found within the boundariesof the electoral unit if he or she is standing for office at thehigher levels of authority, no later than by the day when theelections are announced; and the candidate may only run foroffice in one electoral unit at any level of authority and mayappear only on one political party, coalition or list of independentcandidates.22 Three thousand (3,000) signatures of voters recorded inthe Central Voters Register for the elections for the membersof the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina; threethousand (3,000) signatures of voters recorded in the CentralVoters Register for the elections for the members of theHouse of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly ofBosnia and Herzegovina; two thousand (2,000) signatures ofvoters recorded in the Central Voters Register for the electionsfor the members of the House of Representatives ofthe Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovinaor for the members of the National Assembly of the Republicof Srpska or for the elections for the President and Vice –Presidents of Republic of Srpska; five hundred (500) signaturesof voters recorded in the Central Voters Register forelections for the delegates of the Cantonal Assemblies of theFederation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; one hundred (100)signatures of voters recorded in the Central Voters Registerfor the elections for the Municipal Council/Municipal Assemblyand for the Head of Municipality in a municipality wherethe number of voters recorded in the Central Voters Registeron the day when the elections are announced did notexceed ten thousand (10,000) voters, or two hundred (200)signatures for the election in the municipality in which thisnumber exceeded ten thousand (10,000) voters recordedin the Central Voters Register; (5)% of signatures of votersrecorded in the Central Voters Register for the election ofMunicipal Council or Municipal Assembly and for the Headof Municipality, in a municipality where the number of votersrecorded in the Central Voters Register on the day when theelections are announced did not exceed a thousand (1000)voters recorded in the Central Voters Register; supportingsignatures submitted for the higher level of authority shallalso be applicable to the lower levels of authority included inthe higher level of authority.23 Political parties, coalitions, lists of independent candidatesand independent candidates have the right to: conductthe election campaign in a peaceful environment; organiseand hold public meetings in which they can freely expresstheir positions in order to gain support from the voters; andpublish and distribute placards, posters and other materialsrelated to the election campaign. For the purposes of publicmeetings permits from the competent body shall not be required,but the organiser shall notify the competent body responsiblefor public order and peace twenty – four (24) hoursprior to holding such an event.1. The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovinais a collective head of state which is constitutedof three members of each constituentpeople: one Bosniak, one Croat and oneSerb. Preferential voting system is appliedwith plurality principle in mandates distribution.“Still, with regard to way of their election,expression of constituent peoples willis mediated trough entities, and by thatsignificantly damaged” (Trnka, 2006: 207).“Annex 4 of the Constitution of Bosnia andHerzegovina prescribes a split of citizens interms of voting rights. Article V of the Constitutionreads: the Presidency of Bosnia andHerzegovina shall consist of three Members:one Bosniak and one Croat, each directlyelected from the territory of the Federa tion,and one Serb directly elected from the territoryof the Republika Srpska“ (Scholdan,2000: 35). Many citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovinado not have opportunity to electmembers of Presidency from national groupthey belong. In this way, Bosniaks and Croatswith permanent residence in Republicof Srpska cannot cast a vote for election ofBosniak or Croat Presidency member. Onthe other side, Serbs with permanent residencein Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovinacannot cast a vote for Serb memberof Presidency. This is conditioned by a factthat this constitutional solution is not consistentwith constitutional principles but also internationaldemocratic standards related toelections and electoral systems 24 ; and this isnot contributing to integration of Bosnia andHerzegovina. On the other hand, certain repercussionson election of Croat member ofthe Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovinaoccurred in 2006 elections. Electoral systemof Bosnia and Herzegovina facilitatedthat Bosniaks, on a basis of their most part24 According to Article 8.1 of Electoral Law of Bosnia andHerzegovina, members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovinadirectly elected from the territory of the Federationof Bosnia and Herzegovina – one Bosniak and one Croatshall be elected by voters recorded in the Central VotersRegister to vote for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.A voter recorded in the Central Voters Register to vote inthe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina may vote for eitherthe Bosniak or Croat Member of the Presidency, not forboth. The Bosniak and Croat member that gets the highestnumber of votes among candidates from the same constituentpeople shall be elected. The member of the Presidencyof Bosnia and Herzegovina that shall be directly elected fromthe territory of RS – one Serb shall be elected by voters recordedin the Central Voters Register to vote in the Republicof Srpska. Candidate who gets the highest number of votesshall be elected. The mandate for the members of the Presidencyof Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be four (4) years.centar za politološka istraživanjathe political science research centrewww.cpi.hr71