BOSNIA’S 2022 ELECTION LAW CHANGES: INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES AND RESPONSES
BOSNIA’S 2022 ELECTION LAW CHANGES: INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES AND RESPONSES

Summary/Abstract: Over three decades after the end of the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to attract the attention of its neighboring countries such as Serbia and Croatia, as well as more distant great powers and the International Community as a whole. Interference in internal affairs by foreign countries is an everyday reality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. All this was made possible by the internal fragility of the state, but also by the fact that the Dayton Peace Agreement secured a legal basis for the regional countries, as co-signatories of the Agreement, but also to other foreign powers to decide on its fate and perpetually interfere in its affairs. One of the topics in which all these countries took an active or indirect role is the issue of the Electoral Law, which defines the intra-ethnic relations in the country. Especially the latest amendments to the Election Law imposed on the night of the 2022 general elections by the High Representative once again showed the harsh reality of political realism and geopolitical interests at the expense of the Bosnian state. Regarding this issue, the views of many countries were clearly expressed vis-à-vis Bosnia and Herzegovina and its future. The position and credibility of the OHR, the executive representative of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), as well as the rest of the International Community, has often been contested by local politicians. The decision by the High Representative Christian Schmidt was met with different reactions inside the country and internationally after enacting new amendments that favored ethnic division and HDZ BiH, often perceived as Croatia’s political proxy. Zagreb had lobbied for years for amendments to the Election Law that would secure enormous political power for its political ally. However, the High Representative received support from a certain part of the International Community, including the USA, the UK, the majority of EU member states, and Russia, while the only great power that openly opposed it was Turkey. Regardless of support from the International Community, the new amendments strengthened ethnic division and further empowered nationalist parties within the political system, thus decreasing the chances for Bosnia and Herzegovina to transform itself into a civic state. Therefore, due to the strengthening of ethnic power-sharing and electoral unit gerrymandering, the further deterioration of the country seems unavoidable, while leaving space for separatist policies to dominate the political scene in the upcoming years.

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