OHR Urged to Resolve Bosnia Federation Crisis

The Federation entity’s ruling Social Democrats have urged the High Representative to impose a solution to the prolonged crisis afflicting the entity’s government.Aner Zuljevic, of the ruling Social Democratic Party, SDP, told TV1 that the party was demanding that the Office of the High Representative take a stand over the growing crisis in the Federation entity government.

He called on the High Representative, Valentin Inzko, to use his internationally authorised “Bonn” powers to impose a solution.

The SDP official spoke after the Bosniak [Muslim] causus in the Federation entity parliament on March 21 blocked the nomination of three new judges to the entity’s Constitutional Court, which is due to rule on the recent non-confidence vote in the government.

At Thursday’s session of the House of Peoples, one of two chambers of the Federation parliament, MPs supported two of three candidates for the vacancies in the Court.

But the Bosniak caucus in parliament then sent the decision back to the same court for a ruling on the grounds that the nominations threatened Bosniak vital national interests.

The court has been incomplete since 2008, and so cannot decide on the parliamentary non-confidence vote.

The High Representative has not yet replied to the appeal, and his office told the media that they are still analysing developments in the situation in the Federation.

The entity government originally comprised the SDP, the mainy Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and two small Croat parties.

But after the coalition broke up last May, the SDP found new partners in another Bosniak party, the Alliance for a Better Future, SBB, and in the main Croatian parties, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, and its sister party HDZ 1990.

The new coalition has tried several times to dismiss ministers from the parties of the old coalition. However, a non-confidence vote on February 12 was blocked by the Bosniak caucus, dominated by the SDA.