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ELECTIONS
IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
OCTOBER 5, 2002
Election Formulae -- by Gojko Ivaniš
Protection of the Electoral Right -- by Obren Bužanin
Additional Information
and Election Results-- links
ELECTION FORMULAE
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Various election formulae for certain election
levels are applied in the election system of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
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The three-member Presidency of BiH
shall be elected from three constituent peoples in BiH based on
the plural formula “First past the post”. The Serb member of the
Presidency shall be directly elected by voters registered to vote
for the Republic of Srpska, while Bosniak and Croat members shall
be elected by voters registered to vote for the Federation of BiH,
so that each voter has one vote. The winner is the candidate who
wins the majority of votes (Article 8.1 of the Election Law).
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House of Representatives of the Parliamentary
Assembly of BiH has forty- two (42) members. Twenty-eight
(28) members, or two-thirds, shall be directly elected by 1,4 million
voters registered to vote for the Federation of BiH, and fourteen
(14) members, or one-third shall be elected by 1,1 million voters
registered to vote for the Republic of Srpska (Article 9.2 of the
Election Law). The election formula to be applied for transferring
votes into seats in the Parliament is proportional representation
of open candidacy lists in multi-member constituencies with compensatory
mandates and election threshold of 3% (Articles 9.6 and 9.7 of the
Election Law).
• There are six multi-member constituencies
in the territory of the Federation of BiH. Those are mainly administrative-economic
communities of various sizes and with various numbers of citizens.
Their magnitude varies from three to six members. Twenty-one (21)
members shall be elected and seven (7) are compensatory mandates
(Article 9.3 of the Election Law).
• There are three multi-member constituencies
in the territory of the Republic of Srpska; each of them shall
elect three candidates (9), and five (5) are compensatory mandates
(Article 9.4 of the Election Law).
• The Saint-Lague method of the highest
average shall be used for distribution of mandates. This method
will define how many mandates a political party, coalition or
independent candidate win first in the constituency and then on
the entity level. If the number of mandates won by a political
party on the entity level is higher than the number of mandates
won in the constituencies, that political party will get a balance
from compensatory mandates. (Article 9.8 of the Election Law).
• Candidacy lists are open, meaning that
voters can vote for the individual candidates of the political
party for which they vote. In that way voters have an impact on
the candidates’ order on the candidacy list and they can change
it from the order defined by that political party. A special threshold
of 5% is a condition that must be fulfilled in order to have open
candidacy lists. This means that a candidate must win more than
5% of votes won by his political party in order to change his
position on the candidacy list (Article 9.9 of the Election Law).
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President and Vice-Presidents of the
Republic of Srpska shall be elected from the three constituent
peoples. Voters registered to vote for the Republic of Srpska shall
elect them in accordance with the plural formula “First past the
post”. Each voter has one vote. Three candidates from three constituent
peoples who receive the highest number of votes shall be elected.
The candidate with the highest number of votes shall become the
President and the candidates from the other two peoples with the
highest number of votes shall become Vice-Presidents (Articles 12.1,
12.2 and 12.3 of the Election Law).
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National Assembly of the Republic of
Srpska consists of eighty-three (83) members who shall be
directly elected by voters registered to vote for the Republic of
Srpska. Sixty-two (62) members shall be elected in six (6) multi-member
constituencies, and twenty-one (21) are compensatory mandates. The
Saint-Lague method of the highest average shall be used for distribution
of mandates. Distribution of mandates at the entity level differs
from distribution of mandates on the BiH level. Formula of proportional
representation of open lists is also applied to the National Assembly
of the Republic of Srpska, by using the Saint-Lague method of the
highest average and election threshold of 3%, but it is necessary
that at least four (4) mandates belong to each of the three constituent
peoples. If that is not possible, relevant mandates shall be allocated
from the compensatory lists of the political party with the highest
number of votes, which has the name of the candidate from relevant
constituent peoples on its compensatory list. If that is not applicable,
the constituency candidacy list of the political parties, which
have members of relevant constituent peoples, shall be used (Article
11.1 and 11.2 of the Election Law).
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House of Representatives of the Parliament
of the Federation of BiH consists of ninety-eight (98) members,
who shall be directly elected by voters registered to vote for the
territory of the Federation of BiH. Seventy-three (73) members shall
be elected in twelve (12) multi-member constituencies, and twenty-five
(25) are compensatory mandates. The same formula as for the National
Assembly of the Republic of Srpska shall be applied for distribution
of mandates (Articles 10.1 and 10.2 of the Election Law).
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Federation of BiH is territorially
and politically organized in ten (10) Cantons. Voters, registered
to vote for individual Cantons, shall directly elect Cantonal Assemblies
at the Elections on October 5, 2002. The number of members of the
Cantonal Assembly varies from twenty (20) to thirty (30), depending
on the number of registered voters in the Canton. One Canton comprises
one constituency. Formula of proportional representation of open
candidacy lists with the election threshold of 3% shall be used
for distribution of mandates. A special threshold of 5% is a condition
that must be fulfilled in order to have open list (Article 12.5
of the Election Law).
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Municipal Elections will be held
in Žepče. Formula of proportional
representation of open candidacy lists with the election threshold
of 3% shall be used for distribution of mandates.
Prepared by Gojko Ivaniš
AEOBiH member and Election Course Instructor
PROTECTION OF THE ELECTORAL RIGHT
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Bodies for protection of
the electoral right and authority
1. ELECTION COMMISSIONS:
A) Municipal Election Commission
shall have first instance competence in all matters in its municipality
that are not explicitly allocated to the Election Complaints and
Appeals Council pursuant to Article 6.6 of the Election Law of BiH.
B) Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
shall decide on challenges to decisions of all election commissions
unless it refers to violations of the Rules of Conduct from Chapter
7 of the Election Law that occur at the polling station.
(Chapter 7 refers to rules of conduct for political parties, coalitions,
independent candidates and lists of independent candidates).
2. ELECTION COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS COUNCIL:
• Shall have the first instance competence
on violations of the Rules of conduct as established in Chapter
7 of the Election Law of BiH, excluding violations of Chapter 7
that occur at Polling Stations, and violations of the rules established
in Chapter 16 of the Election Law in cases allocated to the Council
in accordance with provisions of Article 16.7 of the Election Law,
by Regulatory Agency (CRA), which controls work of the electronic
media or Council for print media, which follows work of print media.
• Shall have the second instance competence on challenges
to decisions of Election Commissions referring to violations of
the Rules of Conduct as established in Chapter 7 of the Election
Law that occur at Polling Stations.
3. APPELATE DIVISION OF THE COURT OF BOSNIA
AND HERZEGOVINA:
Shall be competent to hear appeals from a decision
of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Election
Complaints and Appeals Council.
AUTHORITY FOR FILING CHALLENGES
AND FORM OF THE CHALLENGE
Authorized subjects for filing challenges and
complaints are the following:
• Any person, political party or coalition that has a legal
interest or whose rights, stipulated by the Election Law, were infringed,
can file a challenge with the competent authority.
• The challenge shall be filed in a written form and a complainant
must sign it. If the complainant is a political party or a coalition,
the president or an authorized representative of the political party
or the coalition shall sign the challenge.
CONTENT OF THE CHALLENGE
The challenge shall contain:
1. Names, addresses and, if possible phone numbers of the complainant
and a possible perpetrator.
2. Short description of a violation and all evidences confirming
the allegations.
3. Facts and arguments to be given by the complainant in order to
substantiate the challenge.
4. Names, addresses and, if possible phone numbers of relevant witnesses
and others on whom the complainant may rely in order to substantiate
the challenge.
RELEVANT DEADLINES
• Deadline for filing challenges is three
(3) days after the infringement.
• Challenge shall be sent to all parties mentioned in the
challenge without delay.
• The parties may state their position concerning the challenge
in a written form within forty-eight (48) hours after receiving
the challenge.
• The Municipal Election Commission shall consider the challenge
at its Session and reach a decision within forty-eight (48) hours
after the above deadline expires.
• Deadline for submitting the appeal is within forty-eight
(48) hours of the receipt of the decision.
• An appeal must be submitted to the Appellate Division of
the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina no later than five (5) days
after the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Election
Complaints and Appeals Council makes decision (first instance decisions).
PROCEDURES FOR ADJUDICATING CHALLENGES
• The Election Complaints and Appeals Council
shall regulate in its Rules of Procedure, the manner of decision
making, adopting and publishing of its decisions. These Rules of
Procedure shall be adopted by consensus of the Council subject to
the approval of the Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• The Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall
establish Procedural Instruction for adjudicating challenges submitted
to Municipal Election Commissions and the Election Commission of
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FORM AND CHARACTER OF
MUNICIPAL ELECTION COMMISSIONS DECISIONS
• Municipal Election Commission shall first
verify the formal side of the challenge and invite complainant to
remove spotted anomalies if the challenge is vague or incomplete.
• In case the challenge is not submitted timely or by an authorized
person, the Election Commission shall reject the challenge.
• Decision shall be in a written form and it shall contain:
the name of the Election Commission which reached the decision,
serial number and date, introduction, main text of the decision,
explanation, instruction on legal remedy, signature of the authorized
official and the stamp of the competent Election Commission.
• Explanation of the decision must contain evidences based
on which the above Election Commission established relevant facts.
• Decision shall be reached by fifty percent plus one majority
of total number of the Commission members
• Decision shall be delivered to all Parties mentioned in
the challenge.
Prepared by Obren Bužanin
Election Complaints and Appeals Council member
Additional information
on the BiH General Elections 2002 can be found on the following
sites: [top]
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BiH Election Commission |
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International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) |
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