Bosnia Elections 2018: Profile
On October 7, Bosnia and Herzegovina will hold its eighth post-war general election. All of the country’s elected institutions, at state level, in the two entities, the cantons and in the District of Brcko are up for re-election.
They include the state presidency, the state parliament and the assemblies in the two entities and Brcko District and the presidency of the mainly Serb entity, Republika Srpska.
A total of 3,352,933 registered voters may choose between 53 parties, 36 coalitions, and 34 independent candidates that have been confirmed as eligible by the Central Election Commission.
Among the 15 candidates for the three-member state presidency are six candidates for the Bosniak seat, five for the Croat seat and four for the Serbian seat.
This means no new governments can be fully formed in the Federation – or at state level. Local and international officials hope this thorny issue will be resolved soon after the ballot.
It is estimated that the elections will cost about 4.2 million euros.
Political system:
Since the 1992-95 war, Bosnia’s constitution has been based on the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the conflict.
The agreement split Bosnia into two so-called “entities”; the mainly Serbian Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, predominantly composed of Bosniaks and Croats.
The Federation is further divided into 10 cantons, each with its own assembly and government. The Federation is the larger of the two entities and includes the capital, Sarajevo.
The Republika Srpska, which is slightly smaller in size, is more centralised.
The two entities enjoy a considerable autonomy as each has its own parliament, president and government.
The two share a common state-level presidency comprising three members – one from each ethnic group, as well as a state-level parliament and government.
The strengthening of shared institutions has been set as a condition for Bosnia’s EU accession, but the country’s ethnic leaders continue to disagree on the way forward.
While Bosniaks generally seek greater centralization of the state, Serbs oppose any weakening of their autonomy. The Croats are divided, with some supporting greater unification and others advocating a third, predominantly Croat, entity.
Key issues:
Constitutional settlement:
Unlike in previous elections in Bosnia, when constitutional issues were hotly contested, this time most of the parties are focusing on economic and social issues.
The international community has meanwhile more or less abandoned its former efforts to encourage Bosnia’s ethnic leaders to forge a consensus on how to reform the country’s complex and inefficient system of government.
The October polls, therefore, appear unlikely to change Bosnia’s divided political landscape. Virtually all of the parties remain attached to their own particular visions of the country’s constitutional future.
Economic issues:
Bosnia is a poor country. The official unemployment rate is 40 cent, although a sizeable “grey” economy effectively reduces that figure to around 27 per cent.
The economy has still not fully recovered from the 1992-5 war, and much of the infrastructure has yet to be brought into the 21st century.
Economic issues and the promise of more jobs and better infrastructure are central to most parties’ manifestos, although their proposals for improving the situation are often vague.
The economy was worsened by devastating floods in 2014, which caused losses of around 2 billion euros. Most foreign donations to Bosnia for flood relief came in the form of loans, which will weigh on the economy for years to come, alongside existing debts.
Organized crime and corruption:
Although EU membership is a distant dream, Croatia’s accession and Serbia’s candidate status have raised Bosnia’s hopes.
However, corruption, the poor state of the economy and ethnic divisions are huge obstacles.
Graft, cronyism, bribery and embezzlement remain endemic. Although politicians frequent pledge to tackle such issues, many of them benefit from the status quo and have little interest in cleaning up politics.
Although the public is generally resigned to the realities of the system, there is widespread dissatisfaction both with corruption and with politicians in general.
Institutions up for re-election:
Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The country’s bicameral state legislature comprises 42 members of the House of Representatives and 15 members of the House of Peoples.
Members of the former are elected for four years; members of the latter are appointed by the entity assemblies.
The House of Representatives is elected by proportional representation. Fourteen seats are assigned to the RS, and 28 to the Federation. Most parties are ethnic based. There are no ethnic restrictions on voting; a Bosniak does not have to vote only for a Bosniak party, for example.
Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Council of Ministers is the executive branch of the government. The Chair is appointed by the Presidency; the chair then appoints the other nine ministers, subject to the approval of the House of Representatives.
The council can be dissolved at any time by a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives.
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Presidency, the country’s collective head of state, has three members. The Bosniak and Croat members are elected by voters in the Federation entity. The Serbian member is elected by voters in the RS.
Each is elected for four years and the chairmanship rotates between them every eight months, beginning with whoever received the most votes in the last election.
As with the parliamentary elections, although the candidates must run according to their ethnicity, voting on ethnic lines is not required of voters. Therefore, any registered voter in the Federation can vote for either a Bosniak or a Croat member of the Presidency. Voters in RS can only vote for the Serb member of the presidency, however.
Primarily a figurehead position, the Presidency has few enumerated domestic powers. But it is responsible for appointing the Chair of the Council of Ministers, the head of the executive, and thus wields significant indirect power.
National Assembly of Republika Srpska
The National Assembly of the RS is a unicameral legislature. Deputies representing any of the country’s three constituent peoples can use a constitutional mechanism, which enables them to block legislation if they believe it violates the vital interests of their ethnic group.
When this happens, the vetoed law must be sent to the entity’s constitutional court for review. The largest party following an election either forms an outright or coalition government and its leader becomes the Prime Minister.
The Council of Peoples is also a legislative body in Republika Srpska. It does not approve laws but serves to protect the ethnic interests of the constituent peoples, as it decides whether laws violate any of the rights of the three peoples.
It contains 28 delegates, eight from each of the three peoples and four so-called “others”. They are elected for terms of four years by the caucuses of the National Assembly.
Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
A bicameral legislature, it mirrors the national parliament, having a directly elected House of Representatives, elected by party list under a system of proportional representation, and House of Peoples appointed from cantonal assemblies.
The House of Representatives has 98 members who are appointed according to the percentage that each of the parties running for seats has won.
The House of Peoples is comprised of 58 delegates, 17 from each of the three constituent peoples and seven “others” – meaning undeclared people or minorities. They are all appointed from Federation’s ten cantonal assemblies.
Cantonal Assemblies of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Cantonal Assemblies are unicameral and are elected for four-year terms by party list under a system of proportional representation.
