prijava
SARAJEVO, March 12 (FENA) - Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Krišto reiterated today that "everything related to the appointment of new members of the Central Election Commission of BiH (CECBiH) was directed by the Party of Democratic Action (SDA)."
Commenting on a journalist's inquiry regarding the appointment of the new CEC members, Krišto reminded that the mandate of the members of the commission had expired and that the BiH PA House of Representatives has recently appointed a commission to announce a public competition for the election of the new CEC members, stating that, at Wednesday's session of the House of Representatives, Dragan Mektić, and other MPs all of a sudden requested immediate dismissal of the incumbent CEC members and the appointment of new members.
She further stated that everything was done contrary to the provisions of the BiH Election Law and that the CEC members could not be dismissed in this way, referring to the existing law, stating “that a member whose mandate expires cannot be dismissed until the election cycle is completed, that is until the election results are implemented.”
In this regard, Krišto also states that, if the mandate expires, a regular procedure is initiated, "and the regular procedure is to have a public call, determine the criteria and elect the new CEC members, in accordance with the Law."
She added that the House of Representatives yesterday had no insight into the biographies or if conditions have been met by the new CEC members at the said session.
Krišto stated that the way the new CEC members have been elected “was an attack on at the democratic institutions of BiH".
When asked about the allegations "that the problem is that the SNSD and the HDZ would lose the majority vote in the CEC with this decision", Krišto called these claims insinuations, stating that "the representatives of the Croat people have nothing to do with any kind of majority,” and that this party is committed to systemic and lawful solutions.
The BiH PA House of Representatives on Wednesday elected the new CEC BiH members, and after the decision was passed, the SNSD and HDZ MPs left the session.
The Decision in question refers to the election and assuming of office and termination of office of a member of the CEC of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pursuant to which the term of office of a member of the CEC ceases due to the expiration of the mandates to Ahmet Šantić and Suad Arnautović from the ranks of the Bosniak people and Branko Petrić and Novak Božičković from the Serb people.
By the decision of the House of Representatives, Ahmet Šantić and Suad Arnautović were reelected from the ranks of the Bosniak people, and Vanja Bjelica-Prutina and Jovan Kalaba were elected from the Serb people.
Due to the lack of an entity majority, the Decision on the election and takeover of duty and termination of office of a member of the CEC of BiH from the Croat people was sent to the Collegium of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament.
According to the proposed decision, due to the expiration of his term of office, the member of the CEC of BiH whose mandate has expired is Stjepan Mikić, and Željko Bakalar is elected to the position instead.
(FENA) S. R.
