Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Template:Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina Government type: emerging democracy

Administrative divisions: there are two first-order administrative divisions referred to as the Entities - the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska
See Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Independence: April 1992 (from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

National holiday: Bosnia and Herzegovina - BiH National Day, November 25

Constitution: the Dayton Agreement, signed 14 December 1995, included a new constitution now in force
Each of the Entities has its own constitution.

Legal system: based on civil law system

Suffrage: 16 years of age, if employed; 18 years of age, universal

Data code: BK

The Dayton Agreement, signed in Paris on 14 December 1995, retained Bosnia's exterior border and created a joint multi-ethnic and democratic government. This national government - based on proportional representation similar to that which existed in the former socialist regime - is charged with conducting foreign, economic, and fiscal policy.

The Dayton Agreement established the Office of the High Representative (OHR) to oversee the implementation of the civilian aspects of the agreement. About 250 international and 450 local staff members are employed by the OHR.

Contents

1 President and Cabinet

1.1 Principal Government Officials
1.2 History

2 Legislature

2.1 House of Peoples
2.2 House of Representatives
2.3 Election history

3 Judiciary

3.1 Constitutional Court
3.2 State Court
3.3 Entities

4 Political parties and leaders

5 See also

6 External links

President and Cabinet

The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina rotates among three members (Bosniak, Serb, Croat), each elected for a 4-year term. The three members of the Presidency are elected directly by the people (Federation votes for the Bosniak/Croat, RS for the Serb).

The Presidency is the head of state institution and it is mainly responsible for the foreign policy and proposing the budget.

The Chair of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina is nominated by the Presidency and approved by the House of Representatives. He is then responsible for appointing a Foreign Minister, Minister of Foreign Trade, and others as appropriate.

The Council is responsible for carrying out various policies and decisions in the fields of diplomacy, economy, inter-Entity relations and other matters as agreed by the Entities.

Each of the Entities has its own Council of Ministers, which deal with internal matters not dealt with by the state Council.

Principal Government Officials

Office of the High Representative:

International High Representative: Paddy Ashdown

Chief of state:

President of the Presidency: Sulejman Tihić (Bosniak)
Member of the Presidency: Borislav Paravac (Serb)
Member of the Presidency: Dragan Čović (Croat)

Head of government:

President of the Council of Ministers: Adnan Terzić (Bosniak)

Entities:

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where president and vice-president rotate every year:
- President: Niko Lozančić (Croat)
- Vice Presidents:
  - Sahbaz Džihanović (Bosniak)
  - Desnica Radivojević (Serb)
- Prime minister: Ahmet Hadžipašić

Republika Srpska:
- President: Dragan Čavić
- Prime minister: Dragan Mikerević

Brčko:
- International Supervisor: Susan R. Johnson
- Mayor: Branko Damjanac

History

Past international high representatives: Carl Bildt, Carlos Westendorp, Wolfgang Petritsch.

Members of the Presidency who stepped down under pressure from the Office of the High Representative: Mirko Šarović and Ante Jelavić.

In February 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the structure of the Council of Ministers was unconstitutional; a new structure was being negotiated.

Federation president and vice-president in 1999: Ejup Ganić and Ivo Andrić-Lužanić

Past RS presidents at the ICTY: Momčilo Krajišnik, Radovan Karadžić, Biljana Plavšić.

RS president Nikola Poplašen was removed by the OHR on 5 March 1999. Mirko Šarović's first mandate in 2000 was not recognized by the OHR.

Past members of government:

Federation minister Hasan Čengić

Legislature

The Parliamentary Assembly or Skupština is the lawmaking body in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It consists of two houses:

the House of Peoples or Vijeće Naroda
the National House of Representatives or Vijeće Općina

The Parliamentary Assembly is responsible for:

enacting legislation as necessary to implement decisions of the Presidency or to carry out the responsibilities of the Assembly under the Constitution
deciding upon the sources and amounts of revenues for the operations of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina
approving a budget for the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
deciding whether to consent to the ratification of treaties
other matters as are necessary to carry out its duties of as are assigned to it by mutual agreement of the Entities.

Bosnia and Herzegovina did not have a permanent election law until 2001, during which time a draft law specified four-year terms for the state and first-order administrative division entity legislatures. The final election law was passed and published on September 9, 2001.

House of Peoples

The House of Peoples includes 15 delegates who serve two-year terms. Two-thirds of them come from the Federation (5 Croats and 5 Bosniaks) and one-third from the RS (5 Serbs). Nine members of the House of Peoples constitutes a quorum, provided that at least three delegates from each group are present.

Federation representatives are selected by the House of Peoples of the Federation, which has 58 seats (17 Bosniak, 17 Croat, 17 Serb, 7 others) and whose members are delegated by cantonal assemblies to serve 4-year terms.

RS representatives are selected by the 28-member Republika Srpska Council of Peoples which was established in the Republika Srpska National Assembly; each constituent nation has eight delegates, "others" have four delegates.

House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is comprised of 42 Members, two-thirds elected to serve two-year terms from the Federation (14 Croats and 14 Bosniaks) and one-third elected from the RS (14 Serbs).

Federation members come from the Federation House of Representatives with 98 seats whose members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms.

RS members come from the RS National Assembly, which has 83 seats and whose members are elected by popular vote to serve 4-year terms.

Election history

National House of Representatives:

elections held 12-13 September 1998:
- seats by party/coalition - KCD 17, HDZ-BiH 6, SDP-BiH 6, Sloga 4, SDS 4, SRS-RS 2, DNZ 1, NHI 1, RSRS 1
elections held 5 October 2002:
- percent of vote by party/coalition - SDA 21.9%, SDS 14.0%, SBiH 10.5%, SDP 10.4%, SNSD 9.8%, HDZ 9.5%, PDP 4.6%, others 19.3%
- seats by party/coalition - SDA 10, SDS 5, SBiH 6, SDP 4, SNSD 3, HDZ 5, PDP 2, others 7

House of Peoples:

constituted 4 December 1998
constituted in fall 2000
constituted in January 2003
next to be constituted in 2007

Federation House of Representatives:

elections held fall 1998:
- seats by party/coalition - KCD 68, HDZ-BiH 28, SDP-BiH 25, NHI 4, DNZ 3, DSP 2, BPS 2, HSP 2, SPRS 2, BSP 1, KC 1, BOSS 1, HSS 1
elections held 5 October 2002:
- seats by party/coalition - SDA 32, HDZ-BiH 16, SDP 15, SBiH 15, other 20

Federation House of Peoples:

constituted November 1998
constituted December 2002

Republika Srpska National Assembly:

elections held fall 1998
- seats by party/coalition - SDS 19, KCD 15, SNS 12, SRS-RS 11, SPRS 10, SNSD 6, RSRS 3, SKRS 2, SDP 2, KKO 1, HDZ-BiH 1, NHI 1
elections held fall 2000
elections held 5 October 2002
- seats by party/coalition - SDS 26, SNSD 19, PDP 9, SDA 6, SRS 4, SPRS 3, DNZ 3, SBiH 4, SDP 3, others 6

Judiciary

Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the supreme, final arbiter of legal matters. It is composed of nine members: four members are selected by the House of Representatives of the Federation, two by the Assembly of the RS, and three by the President of the European Court of Human Rights after consultation with the Presidency.

Terms of initial appointees are 5 years, unless they resign or are removed for cause by consensus of the other judges. Once appointed, judges are not eligible for reappointment. Judges subsequently appointed will serve until the age of 70, unless they resign or are removed for cause. Appointments made 5 years after the initial appointments may be governed by a different law of selection, to be determined by the Parliamentary Assembly.

Proceedings of the Court are public, and decisions will be published. Rules of court are adopted by a majority of the Court, and decisions are final and binding.

The Constitutional Court's original jurisdiction lies in deciding any constitutional dispute that arises between the Entities or between Bosnia and Herzegovina and an Entity or Entities. Such disputes may be referred only by a member of the Presidency, by the Chair of the Council of Ministers, by the Chair or Deputy Chair of either chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly, or by one-fourth of the legislature of either Entity.

The Court also has appellate jurisdiction within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

State Court

The State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of nine judges and three divisions - Administrative, Appellate and Criminal - having jurisdiction over cases related to state-level law and appellate jurisdiction over cases initiated in the entities.

Note - a War Crimes Chamber may be added at a future date.

Entities

The entities each have a Supreme Court. Each entity also has a number of lower courts. There are 10 cantonal courts in the Federation, plus a number of municipal courts. The Republika Srpska has five municipal courts.