Čović: Venice Commission confirmed there is nothing disputable in two constituencies in FBiH, there are no conditions for legal elections

After today's joint session of the Presidencies of HDZ BiH and HDZ HR, the President of HDZ BiH Dragan Čović stated that the Venice Commission confirmed the Croatian proposal to amend the BiH Election Law is fully in line with all European Court of Human Rights rulings. Moreover, the Venice Commision confirmed there is nothing problematic in the formation of two constituencies, Croat and Bosniak, on the FBiH territory. Čović also said there are no conditions to hold elections legally.

„The BiH Constitutional Court Ruling in the Ljubić case has repealed parts of the Election Law. It has been clearly said that changes must be made in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. As this has not been done, it is clear that there are no conditions for elections, despite what we have heard from the international representatives. I told this to Mr. Schmidt over the weekend. Without any reason, he encouraged one side in Neum not to reach an agreement. At this moment, there are no preconditions to organize elections. It is something similar as it was for Mostar. However, I believe that we will change the Election Law and that this will not be the topic“, Čović said.

He explained that the problems in the Neum negotiations appeared when Bosniak political representatives were convinced that the Venice Commission confirmed there was nothing disputable with the Croatian proposal. After that, he says, the evasion of any agreement began.

„As far as the Presidency members are concerned, all the models on the table were based on Electoral College system. The basis is the population structure of the Cantons. All the modalities went in that direction. The key is whether we have one or two lists in FBiH. The Venice Commision has clearly said there are no problems with two constituencies in FBiH, nor in the Electoral College model. Since our fellow Bosniaks have doubts about the two constituencies, we agreed to a model based on the current situation, a model with two electoral lists,“ Čović asserted.

He pointed out that his Bosniak colleagues had given their proposal only on the last day of the Neum negotiations. They proposed only one list, unlike the current two, from which all candidates for the Croat and Bosniak members of the Presidency are selected. As he explained, this brings the floating constituencies back into play.

„But it also opens the door to numerous possible manipulations. With a bit of coordination between two strong parties, a member of the Presidency can be imposed on Croats again. That model is absolutely unacceptable. The acceptable model must enable unhindered legitimate political representation in the houses of peoples and the BiH Presidency“, said the HDZ BiH President.

He also commented on his speech in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska.

"I went to Banja Luka on the invitation of the NA RS leadership. This caused an avalanche of reactions from political Sarajevo. I went so we can resolve the issue of return to BiH institutions, to say that we need to preserve the BiH Constitution, and the RS is part of that Constitution, to say that 'civic' BiH is not a solution, and because of the Croatian people in the RS. It is a reality and a fact. Everyone who respects the Constitution, must also respect the RS. If my words were taken out of context and hurt someone, it is another matter. Croat and Bosniak representatives talked in Neum, without the Serb reps. We want to bring the RS representatives back to Parliament“, Čović said, adding that the parties represented in the RS NA are needed as partners to adopt any law at the BiH level.

He also emphasized that he has the HDZ HR support for the activities regarding the BiH Election Law reform.

„HDZ HR has given us full support for what we are doing. HDZ HR supports our work. The growth of influence on all those who want to hear anything about BiH is their merit, although there are not many. This is a great credit of Mr. Plenković and Mr. Grlić Radman. But I also talked to President Milanović. Everyone is very interested and worried about what will happen in BiH,“ Čović concluded.

Dnevnik.ba