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SARAJEVO, May 19 (FENA) - Members of the Interdepartmental Working Group for Amendments to the Election Legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina spent almost five hours today with a one-hour break trying to harmonize the Rules of Procedure which should define the future work of the body in charge of reaching a consensus on one of the key priorities that lie ahead of BiH.
However, the members of the group failed to reach an agreement on one of the items of the proposed Rules of Procedure, which refers to the voting methods in that body, and part of the discussion was spent on harmonizing the need to enable experts from international organizations to offer their assistance.
The Interdepartmental Working Group has 14 members, three from the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, eight from the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, and three from the Council of Ministers of BiH.
Since a large number of members of the Interdepartmental Working Group presented their proposals, it was agreed that Article 21, which specifies the vote, will be declared at the next session when all the proposals are combined.
However, the proposal of the Deputy Chairman of the Interdepartmental Working Group Sredoje Nović (SNSD) to request the appointment of alternate members in that group was adopted in order to ensure the efficiency of work, and it was supported that the Interdepartmental Working Group sits on Wednesdays and that no sessions of other parliamentary bodies are scheduled for that day.
The proposal from the European Union to provide expert assistance to the representatives of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the OSCE in the work of the Interdepartmental Working Group provoked a heated debate, and it was decided to leave the possibility for the working group to allow other international experts to take part.
Branislav Borenović (PDP) asked for the Central Election Commission of BiH to be involved in providing professional assistance, which was opposed by Borjana Krišto (HDZ), emphasizing that the Parliamentary Assembly is the one that elects the CEC members and adopts election legislation.
Krišto and Nović suggested that the working group decide whether the sessions would be recorded, and one of their proposals was to allow the media to follow the sessions only if such a decision is made by the Interdepartmental Working Group, stating that the sessions of the Council of Ministers are also closed to the public.
A member of the Interdepartmental Working Group Saša Magazinović (SDP) emphasized that he could not support the proposal that would prevent the recording of their sessions and media presence because it is completely contrary to what the European Commission requires from BiH, which is transparency in the work of the institutions.
Chairwoman of the Working Group, Alma Čolo (SDA), also said that it was unacceptable for a working body to decide to be closed for the public because there should be no problem with the sessions being attended by media representatives, adding that the Interdepartmental Working Group has nothing to hide.
Krišto's proposal was not accepted by a majority of votes, while representatives of the HDZ and the SNSD voted for it.
The next session is scheduled for next Wednesday, by which time the ambiguities regarding the Rules of Procedure should be harmonized, which should be adopted in the end, and after that, the members expressed hope today that the process of introducing changes in the election legislation should be jumpstarted.
(FENA) S. R.
