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3.1. New Features
The most important changes to the electoral rules
and regulations for the 2000 general elections were the adoption
of multi-member constituencies at the state and entity level and
the preferential voting system for the election of the Republika
Srpska President and Vice-President. The open list system was introduced
in the 2000 municipal elections and maintained in the 2000 general
elections. A new stricter approach to party campaign financing was
introduced for the 2000 general elections in an attempt to level
the campaign playing field for political parties. In the following,
all four innovations added to the BiH electoral system will be examined
further.
The Open List System
An open list system allows a voter to express
support for either a political party or an individual candidate
from the candidate list of a political party, coalition, or a list
of independent candidates. The intention is to increase the level
of accountability for elected officials at all levels by having
them rely on the positive approval of the electorate rather than
relying on influence within the party to be placed high on the party
candidate list. By using open lists, voters have the option of selecting
candidates whom they like irrespective of their order on the party
list. Thus, voters can alter the order in which candidates are elected
from a party list. However, for a mandate to be awarded based on
individual votes, a candidate must have received votes totaling
at least 3% of the total number of votes received by that list.
This prevents a candidate on a list from being awarded a mandate
due to an insignificant number of individual votes compared to a
greater number of votes for the political party or coalition which
awards mandates according to its ordering of candidates on the list.
For example, one party received one hundred votes,
and these votes converted into one seat in the Parliament. The same
party had ten candidates on the list. The last listed candidate
got three votes (3% of total party votes), and the first listed
candidate got two votes. The last candidate was elected.
The following example is from the municipality
of Travnik. The results from the 2000 municipal elections turned
out as follows:
Figure 4: Open List Illustration, Travnik
April 2000
SCD: Coalition of Stranka Demokratske Akcije (SDA) and
Stranka za BiH (SBiH)
HDZ: Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica
SDP: Socijaldemokratska Partija BiH
NHI: Nova Hrvatska Inicijativa
LGK: Liberalno Gradanska Koalicija
The diagram illustrates the points given in the numbers below. The
SCD, a coalition of SDA and SBiH, got fifteen candidates elected
to the municipal council in Travnik. Out of fifteen candidates,
nine were elected in the order in which they appeared on the party
list and six were elected due to voters' explicit choice, i.e. the
six candidates jumped over other candidates on the list who would
have been elected had it not been for the open list system and voters'
choice of candidate.
As for the SDP, it is seen that half of
the candidates won their mandates due to the open list while the
other three won based on their position on the party's list.
TABLE 5: Election to the Municipal Council
in Travnik (source: OSCE Field Office, Travnik)
|
Party
|
Party Votes
|
% of votes
|
MC seats
|
Last elected candidate
votes
|
%
|
Party ranking
|
Candidate elected
by party ranking
|
%
|
Candidate elected
by voter's preference
|
%
|
| SCD |
10882
|
47.3
|
15
|
482
|
4.4293
|
2
|
9
|
60
|
6
|
40
|
| HDZ |
5219
|
22.7
|
7
|
373
|
7.147
|
3
|
5
|
71.429
|
2
|
28.571
|
| SDP |
4569
|
19.9
|
6
|
579
|
12.672
|
2
|
3
|
50
|
3
|
50
|
| NHI |
1415
|
6.2
|
2
|
335
|
23.675
|
7
|
1
|
50
|
1
|
50
|
| LGK |
508
|
2.2
|
1
|
|
|
|
0
|
|
1
|
100
|
| Total |
22593
|
98.3
|
31
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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SCD: Coalition of Stranka Demokratske
Akcije (SDA) and Stranka za BiH (SBiH)
HDZ: Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica
SDP: Socijaldemokratska Partija BiH
NHI: Nova Hrvatska Inicijativa
LGK: Liberalno Gradanska Koalicija
As for NHI, it is interesting to note that one of the two candidates
managed to be elected even though the person was ranked seventh
by the party; the candidate garnered almost 24% of the party's votes.
Travnik is not an outstanding case. At a national
level, it is estimated that a third of all candidates were elected
due to the open list system, i.e. they managed to overcome the political
parties' ranking of candidates.
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