Bosnia and Herzegovina

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MY COUNTRY
Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Organization Structure of My Country
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BiHs Legislative and Executive Bodies
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Regulation and Conduction of Elections in BH
The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and
Herzegovina on the session of the House of
Representatives held on 21 August 2001 and on the
session of the House of People held on 23 August
2001 adopted the Election Law of Bosnia and
Herzegovina This law shall regulate the election
of the members and the delegates of the
Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and of the members of the Presidency of Bosnia
and Herzegovina and shall stipulate the
principles governing the elections at all levels
of authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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The Basic Regulation of BH Election Law

• The election of members of all bodies of
  authority shall be made on the basis of general
  and equal voting rights by direct and secret
  ballots, unless otherwise stipulated by this law.
• Each citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina who
  has attained eighteen (18) years of age shall
  have the right to vote and to be elected pursuant
  to this law. 
• A citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina who
  temporarily resides abroad and has the right to
  vote.
• A citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina who
  holds dual citizenship shall have the right to
  register and to vote, only if Bosnia and
  Herzegovina is the country of his or her
  permanent residence.
• No person who is serving a sentence imposed by
  the ICTY, and no person who is under
  indictment by the Tribunal and who has failed to
  comply with an order to appear before the
  Tribunal, may register to vote or stand as a
  candidate.

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Authorities Responsible for the Conduct of
Elections

• The competent authorities responsible for
  the conduct of elections are the election
  commissions and the Polling Station Committees.
  These bodies are independent and impartial in
  their work. 
• Members of election commissions and Polling
  Station Committees shall be persons eligible to
  vote.
• The ELECTION COMMISSION OF BOSNIA AND
  HERZEGOVINA derives its authority from and
  reports directly to, the Parliamentary Assembly
  of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• The Election Commission of Bosnia and
  Herzegovina shall determine the number of the
  Municipal Election Commission members in
  accordance with the number of the registered
  voters and the size of a municipality. 
• The members of the MUNICIPAL ELECTION
  COMMISSION shall be appointed by the Municipal
  Council/Municipal Assembly, subject to the
  approval of the Election Commission of Bosnia and
  Herzegovina. 
• The POLLING STATION COMMITTEE shall directly
  manage the conduct of the Polling Station, ensure
  the regularity and secrecy of the ballot and
  record the election results at the Polling
  Station.

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Who can Vote

• A citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, aged
  eighteen (18) or older, exercises his or her
  right to vote based on his or her registration
  into the Central Voters Register. Each person
  shall apply for registration personally. No
  person may apply for registration on behalf of
  another person
• The Central Voters Register shall
  include the names and information about all
  citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who have the
  right to vote and who have registered to vote
• The Central Voters Register, Municipal
  Voters Registers shall be public documents

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Election of the BH Presidency

• For the election of members of the BH
  Presidency, we use MAJORITY ELECTORAL SYSTEM. It
  means that candidate of constituent people who
  gets the highest number of votes among candidates
  from the same constituent people shall be
  elected.
• The members of the Presidency of BH
  directly elected from the territory of the
  Federation of BH - one Bosniak and one Croat
  shall be elected by voters registered to vote for
  the Federation of BH.
• The  member of the Presidency that shall be
  directly elected from the territory of RS - one
  Serb shall be elected by voters registered to
  vote in the Republika Srpska.
• The mandate for the members of the
  Presidency shall be four (4) years. The Chair of
  the Presidency shall be changed every eight (8)
  months by the principles of rotation among the
  members of the Presidency.

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Election of members of BH Parliamentary Assembly

• Electoral system that we use for election of
  the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of BH
  is proportional open list system.
• The Parliamentary Assembly is consisted of
  the House of Representatives and the House of
  Peoples.
• The House of Representatives consists of 42
  members, 28 of whom are directly elected
  by voters registered to vote for the territory of
  the Federation of BH, and 14 of whom are
  directly elected by voters registered to vote
  for the territory of the Republika Srpska. The
  mandate of members of the House of
  Representatives is 4 years.
• The House of Peoples is consisted of 15 members
  of whom two thirds (5 Bosniaks and 5 Croats) are
  representatives of the Federation while one
  third (five Serbs) are representatives from
  Republika Srpska.
• Nominated Bosniak and Croat representatives
  from the Federation are being elected by Bosniak
  and Croat representatives in House of
  Representatives of the Federation, while
  representatives from the Republika Srpska are
  being elected by the National Assembly of the
  Republika Srpska.

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Youth Participation in Electoral Process

• According to a UNDP research, more than 60 of
  BH youth would like to leave the country
  because
• Economic situation in the country is
  difficult
• Unemployment rate is high
• Educational system is not harmonized with
  developed countries
• Corruption and crime are very common among
  people in power
• Young people dont trust political parties in
  general
• The lack of will to involve young people in
  political processes
• Because of such situation young people are also
  not interested to vote in elections so their
  participation in this process is insufficient.

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How to increase youth participation in electoral
process

• Considering that permanent education about
  elections and its consequences does not exist
  there is magic way how we could do it
• Educate them, Educate them and Educate them.
• Almost forgot

Educate them!!!
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• To educate them about basic principles of
  democracy, human rights, tolerance,
  accountability, professionalism and their
  importance for development of society.
• To educate them about elections, electoral
  process and its consequences for changes in
  society.
• To educate them about decision making
  processes on different levels of authority and
  how those decisions affect their own lives.
• To educate them that the only democratic way
  of changing of authority is through elections.
• To educate them that its necessary to
  participate in social processes and that in case
  they dont vote they enable others to make
  decisions that are important for their own lives.
• To educate them that only through own
  participation in politics they can make
  difference.

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What was done so far and what is being done?

• Continuous education of young people about
  elections does not exist, even though in post-war
  period there was a significant progress in the
  area.
• In election years, certain activities
  targeting youth are being conducted, but
  unfortunately they end with election day.
• Political parties have youth associations
  that in election years also intensify their
  activities.
• NGOs in the country gather youth and promote
  their participation in election process and
  involve them in all phases of electoral process.
  In our point of view, these could be the most
  significant activities that could influences
  greater turnout of youth in elections.

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• International organizations whose presence
  is very important in BH as well as BH
  Association of Electoral Officials (AEOBH) also
  organize various types of elections activities
  targeting youth.
• Education reform process is currently taking
  place in BH and some democratic values are being
  incorporated in educational system. Topics
  related to democratic elections are part of those
  programs, but only as marginal activity.
• Perhaps the most comprehensive activities in
  the area of education of youth and promotion of
  election process was program Youth and
  Elections, which AEOBH and IFES implemented as
  pilot program in BH primary and secondary
  schools.
• We hope that different types of youth
  participation and their turnout in elections in
  the future will improve and that sessions such as
  this one will promote values of democratic
  elections not just in our country but also in the
  region and wider.

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Delegation of BH youth would like to thank
ACEEEO for the opportunity to participate in this
seminar

• Budapest,
• April 29-May 2, 2004

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