prijava
STRASBOURG, October 29 (FENA) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) unanimously ruled in favor of Mostar City Committee Chairman and president of the local branch of the political party Naša stranka Irma Baralija, telling the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina to amend legislation and enable local elections in Mostar.
The case concerned a legal void which made it impossible for the applicant, a local politician living in Mostar, to vote or stand in elections, the European Court of Human Rights stated.
The Court found that that legal void had been created by the authorities’ failure to enforce a 2010 Constitutional Court ruling concerning arrangements for voting in local elections in Mostar and telling the authorities to harmonize the relevant legislation with the Constitution.
That had in turn led to a situation where the last local elections in Mostar had been held in 2008 and the city had been governed since 2012 by a mayor who did not have the required democratic legitimacy.
Such a situation was incompatible with the rule of law. The Court could not therefore accept the Government’s justification for the prolonged delay in enforcing the ruling, namely the difficulties in establishing a long-term and effective power-sharing mechanism for the city council so as to maintain peace and to facilitate dialogue between the different ethnic groups in Mostar.
The State had therefore failed to comply with its duty to take measures to protect Ms Baralija from discriminatory treatment on the grounds of her place of residence and to hold democratic elections in Mostar.
It also held, unanimously, under Article 46 (binding force and implementation) that the State had to amend the relevant legislation, at the latest within six months of this judgment becoming final, it is said in a statement from the European Court of Human Rights.
(FENA) A. B.
