Organization
Structure of
My Country
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BiH’s Legislative and Executive Bodies
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Regulation and Conduction of Elections
in B&H
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
delegates of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia
Herzegovina and of the members of the Presidency of Bosnia
Herzegovina and shall stipulate the principles governing
elections at all levels of authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
the
and
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The Basic Regulation of B&H 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 B&H Presidency
For the election of members of the B&H 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 B&H directly elected from the
territory of the Federation of B&H - one Bosniak and one Croat shall
be elected by voters registered to vote for the Federation of B&H.
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 B&H
Parliamentary Assembly
Electoral system that we use for election of the members of the
Parliamentary Assembly of B&H 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 B&H, 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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According to a UNDP research, more than 60% of B&H 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 don’t 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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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:
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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 it’s necessary to participate in social
processes and that in case they don’t 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 B&H as well as B&H Association of Electoral
Officials (AEOB&H) also organize various types of elections
activities targeting youth.
Education reform process is currently taking place in B&H
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 AEOB&H and IFES
implemented as pilot program in B&H 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 B&H youth
would like to thank
ACEEEO for the
opportunity to participate
in this seminar
Budapest,
April 29-May 2, 2004
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