Bosnia and Herzegovina

The first competitive multiparty democratic election in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was held exactly fifteen years ago, i.e. on 18 November 1990. It was the time of radical political transformation of one-party communist rule system into a multi-party pluralist system. The next lines of the text will give a survey of the competitive elections held in BiH during the elapsed 15 years, from 1990 to 2005 focusing on the type of electoral system and election legislation, key political actors, and the election results.

The Electoral system at the first multiparty election (1990)
The applied electoral system (model) in BiH,1 and/or the manner of establishing election results, and conversing of votes into seats at the first multiparty elections in BiH in November 1990 was different for various representative structures (hybrid, combined model). Here we think first of all, of the bicameral structure of BiH Parliament - Assembly of the Socialist Republic of BiH, and Presidency of SR BiH.

The Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina consisted of a Council of citizens and a Council of municipalities. The structure of the Assembly had to reflect the share of constitutive peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with allowed tolerance of ą15 %. For valid elections, more than 50% of voters registered in general voting rolls had to go to the polls. When registering the voters in the SR BiH in 1990, so-called passive registration was applied, meaning that any activity, which would be a precondition for entering their name in the voting roll was required from the citizens.

The total number of citizens whose names were registered in general electoral rolls in 1990 was 3,033.921. Of this number, 100.432 voters were on temporary work in foreign countries.
Election of the Presidency members of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was implemented at the same time as the election of Councilmen of the municipal assemblies (of the City of Sarajevo) and representatives of both Councils of the Assembly of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina consisted of 7 members, more precisely 2 Bosniaks, 2 2 Serbs, 2 Croats and 1 – others. Every voter had right to vote not only for candidates of his own constitutive people, he also voted for a candidate of every constitutive people, including also others. For the legitimate election it was obligatory that more than 50% of voters registered in general voting rolls go to the polls.
Electoral system for the Presidency members of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the system of relative majority ( “the first passed the post”), i.e. the candidates with the largest number of votes obtained from those who went to the polls, were elected.
In this case the whole Republic was one electoral unit (at-large system), and the law has provided the election of the members of the Presidency of SRBiH by the system of relative majority, by national lists (quotas). Namely, the law has provided that maximum two candidates may have been elected from one people (Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats), and maximum one candidate among Yugoslavs and others (2+2+2+1).
Eight political parties put up their candidates (27 candidates) for the Presidency of BiH together with one independent candidate (total 28 candidates). Seven members of the Presidency were elected from the three BiH parties (Party for Democratic Action 3, Serb Democratic Party 2 and Croat Democratic Party 2). 3

It should be mentioned here that when voting for the members of the Presidency of SR BiH, the voters had an opportunity to elect 1 or all the seven (7) candidates. It is only for this list at the elections in BiH that there existed a possibility for the voters to elect more than one candidate (plural votum or multiple votes). On the parts of the candidate list from the ranks of Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and others, voters could decide for two candidates each, and/or for one candidate (from the ranks of others).
Establishing of the election results and conversion of votes into seats for the Council of Citizens of the Assembly of SR BiH and for the councilmen of municipal assemblies was performed by applying proportional system and exactly by combination of an electoral number, electoral quota (Hare quota) and D ’Hondt formula (electoral quotient).
Election of representatives for the Council of Citizens of the Assembly of SRBiH was performed in seven multi-mandate electoral units and 130 representatives were elected for this Council of the BiH Parliament. 4

According to the solution provided by the law, distribution of seats was preceded by establishing an electoral quota or an electoral quotient. 5 After establishing electoral quota for every list of candidates, it is separately established how many entire electoral quotas have been given to that list (party) and on that basis number of seats is allocated to that party.
Regarding that by applying the electoral quota all seats have not been distributed in several electoral units during the 1990 elections in BiH, they were distributed by applying d ’Hondt formula in the manner that the remainder of “non-consumed” votes of every list was divided by numbers from 1 to the number corresponding to the number of non-allocated seats inclusive. So different quotients have been obtained and they have been distributed by size, and depending of the number of non-allocated seats, those with the greatest quotients have been elected.
As to the elections for the Municipal Councils representatives of the Assembly of SR BiH the plurality system was applied or more precisely the system of absolute majority. In order that a candidate would be elected in the first electoral turn-round, the candidate should win 50 % + 1 of valid votes in his municipality. Election of representatives for this council was conducted in two electoral turn-rounds in those electoral units (municipalities) where no candidate won necessary majority (majority vote of voters who voted in the electoral unit).
For the election of representatives in this council consisting of 110 seats (one representative seat from each of 109 municipalities and one representative seat from the Assembly of the City of Sarajevo), every municipality was an electoral unit for the election of that representative, as well as the City of Sarajevo was an electoral unit for one representative.
The election results in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1990:

a) Presidency of SR BiH

For Presidency of BiH 8 political parties put up their candidates with 27 candidates together with one independent candidate (total 28 candidates). For accepting candidature for election of the SR BiH Presidency members, it was obligatory to collect 100.000 supporting signatures. The total number of voters registered in the polling rolls was 3, 144. 353. Of this registered number of voters, 2, 339. 958 or 74,42% went to the polls. In these elections, seven members of the Presidency were elected from the three BiH parties (Party for Democratic Action 3, Serb Democratic Party 2 and Croat Democratic Party 2).

b) Assembly of SR BiH

For the assembly of SRBiH, 15 political parties put up about 1500 candidates for 240 representative seats in the Council of Citizens (130) and the Council of Municipalities (110) of the Parliament. In the elections for the Assembly of SR BiH, 2, 339, 958 voters of total 3, 144, 353 or about 74,42 % registered in the polling rolls took part in the elections what can be taken as a very good poll. There were 127, 291 or about 5,5% invalid voting papers. In the elections, the citizens have put their trust in 130 representatives in the Council of Citizens from 11 political parties and in 110 representatives in the Council of Municipalities from 7 political parties. The results of the first multi-party elections from 1990 brought to opposition the SKBiH, the ruling party up to that moment.

c) Council of Citizens of the Assembly of SR BiH

In the elections for the Council of Citizens, which have been conducted by the system of proportional representing, SDA won 43 seats, SDS 34 seats, HDZ 21 seat, SKBiH-SDP 15 seats, Union of Reform Forces of Yugoslavia 11 seats, MBO 2 seats, coalition SSO and Eko movement 2 seats, DSS 1 seat and coalition of SRSJ and Democratic party Mostar 1 seat.
Distribution of seats in the Council of Citizens of the Assembly of SR BiH in the 1990 elections is shown on the following

Diagram 1:

d) Council of Municipalities of the Assembly of SR BiH

The elections for this Council have been conducted in two turn-rounds. In the first voting 58 or 52,72 % representatives were elected. In the run-off, the remaining 52 representatives or 47,28 % were elected. Of the total 110 seats for the Council of Municipalities, SDA won 43, SDS 38 seats, HDZ 23 seats, SKBiH and DSS 4 seats, SPO 1 seat and SRSJ 1 seat.

Distribution of seats in the Council of Municipalities of the Assembly of SR BiH in the 1990 elections is shown on the following

Diagram 2:

e) Municipal Assemblies

The results of the election for local municipal assemblies promoted the total five most successful parties in the year 1990 and also after that remained the most serious political competitors on the BiH political scene.

Table 1. Number of elected councilmen in the assemblies of municipalities by the party membership – the five most successful parties:

Electoral system and elections in BiH according to the rules and regulations of the international community (1996-2000)

After the elections held in 1990 in BiH, any elections have not been held because of the war situation until 1996. After signing the Peace Agreement in Dayton, 7 that also contained an annex on elections (Annex III), the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) was entrusted with the whole electoral process in BiH. On this basis, this international institution will organize and supervise all general elections held in BiH from 1996 to 2000, and/or general elections held in 1996, 1998, and 2000, as well as local elections held in 1997 and 2000, and extraordinary elections for the National Assembly of RS that were held in 1997. General elections held in 2002 in BiH were organized in compliance with the new Electoral law of BiH passed in 2001.

With the aim of organizing an electoral process in BiH, the international community established a Provisional Election Commission (hereinafter referred to as: PIK/PEC), 8 an Election Appeals Sub-Commission - EASC which consisted of four justices – three local, state and two entities, and one foreigner - Chairman), a Media Experts Commission - MEC, consisting of the representatives of the parties, media experts, representatives of the entity ministries of interior, representatives of OHR and OSCE Human Rights employees. The area offices, field offices of OSCE have been established throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina with the task of direct organizing, implementation and supervision of the election process. 9 All in the five (5) regional OSCE centers sub-commissions of media experts were formed. Immediately after that, OSCE engaged approximately 40 observers of human rights in the head office in Sarajevo, in five regional offices in BiH and in 26 offices in the field. 10 In addition to the central PIK, local election commissions (OIK) were formed at the level of every municipality.
The Provisional Election Commission (PIK/PEC) has successively passed Provisional Rules and Regulations for every election, on the basis of which the electoral system in BiH was modeled. These Rules were competent over the local laws and regulations. It is essential to note now that by this Annex OSCE got the seat to conduct the elections in BiH only once – in 1996.11 But, as the practice shows, the international community implemented all the elections in BiH until 2002.
The greatest changes compared with the elections held in 1990 were introduced by OSCE in the manner of voting (voting by mail, voting in absence, voting by non verified election papers, system of open lists, preferential voting, etc), and in the conversion of votes into seats rejecting D ’Hondt system which was in force in 1990 and 1996 and introducing Sainte-Laguë method, as well as with forming multi-member electoral units and introducing compensation seats.

In the general elections in 1996 36 parties, 2 coalitions and 2 independent candidates took part. One elector had right to give his supporting signature to unlimited number of political parties and independent candidates. Verification of signature of support was done by the method of statistical sample so that 1% of all signatures of support were verified by the census from 1991. But, let us remind that the European cultural heritage require the verification of all signatures.

The elections were organized on 12 and 13 September 1996, for all ruling levels, except the local ones. 12

For the elections there were 2.300 polling stations opened in the country. The polling stations were also opened in the neighboring countries: in the Republic of Croatia and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, while the refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina in other countries voted by mail. Displaced persons who decided to vote for their pre-war municipalities had the opportunity to vote in absence or to go to their pre-war municipalities and vote there.
All the election activities were supervised by international observers, who coordinated the activities of international observers for evaluating the electoral process (Annex III, Art. 3 and Paragraph 08 of the Documents from Copenhagen). These observers have included the representatives of governments and international organizations and also the representatives of international non-governmental organizations.
Registration of voters in BiH in 1996 was passive registration, meaning that from the citizens in the country any activity was required as a precondition for entering the name in the electoral rolls. Meanwhile, for the citizens of BiH who have been abroad personal (active) registration was required.
The total number of citizens whose names were entered in the general voting lists in 1996 was 3,033.921. Of this number, 1,004.32 voters were on temporary work in foreign countries.
The voters - the refugees in third countries - had the opportunity to be registered and to vote by mail, under condition that their name had been entered on the Census list of 1991. All the activities related to such registration were guided by the OSCE Center for registration of voters outside the country with the seat in Vienna.
General elections of 1996 had to be held within nine months from signing the Dayton Agreement although, according to the assessments of all relevant international factors, the requirements for holding the elections in September 1996 were not met. 13 The elections were held in accordance with the Rules and Regulations (PiP/RR), passed by the OSCE Provisional Election Commission. Importance of these elections exceeded the very significance that "normal"” elections have in a democratic society. Namely, these elections had not been only pure constituting of new power, but also a specific plebiscite of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina on "fresh" signed and achieved peace agreement and new constitutional system of Bosnia and Herzegovina contained therein.
The Dayton Peace Agreement acknowledged new reality i.e. existence of two political entities in BiH (Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska). 14 Consequently, a new structure of the representative power in BiH: Presidency of BiH with three members; bicameral parliamentary Assembly of BiH consisting of the House of Representatives with 42 representatives, of which 28 are elected from the area of the Federation of BiH, and 14 from the area of Republika Srpska, and the House of Peoples with 15 delegates (of which 2/3 or 10 delegates - 5 Bosniaks and 5 Croats - are elected from the area of the Federation of BiH, and 1/3 or 5 Serbs from the area of RS). Representatives in the House of Representatives are elected directly in the elections, while the delegates of the House of Peoples are elected indirectly: from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniak and Croat delegates being elected among the cantonal assemblies members, and from the territory of Republika Srpska Serb delegates (elected by the National Assembly of RS); Parliament of the Federation of BiH of two Houses, and that: House of Representatives with 140 representatives and House of Peoples with 80 delegates; 15 National Assembly of RS (its representatives have not been elected on these general elections) with 83 national representatives, as well as 10 cantons in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 15 to 59 representatives.

Regarding such constitutional structure, the electoral system for 1996 elections, the same as for all next elections was to a great extent determined by the provisions of the General Framework Agreement for peace (Annex IV), and consequently, by the OSCE Rules and Regulations a specific mixed (hybrid) electoral system (model) has been established, and in its essence it was a combination of a majority and proportional representation.
For the direct election of members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the citizens, and president and vice-president of Republika Srpska a majority voting system was used, i.e. the system of relative majority “first passed the post”, and/or the “winner takes all”. The voters from Republika Srpska elected the Serb member of Presidency, while the voters from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina could vote either for Bosniak or for Croat representative, but not for both at the same time, since they have had only one vote. The seats were given to that Bosniak and Croat who got the greatest number of votes on the list of Bosniaks and Croats in the Federation of BiH among their counter-candidates from the same people, and in RS the Serb who got the greatest number of votes among the candidates of Serb nationality. Such a manner of elections for members of the Presidency of BiH limit the electoral right of the citizens of BiH, since for Bosniaks and Croats, having the residence in RS it is made impossible to become candidates in Republika Srpska (passive electoral right is made impossible for them), as well to the Serbs in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, the citizens who do not declare as Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats are deprived of passive electoral right on the whole territory of the state, since according to the Constitution of BiH there is no position in the Presidency of BiH for this category of citizens.
Elections for all other levels of power were held based on the proportional representation system with closed party lists, falling into categorical voting methods. It is essential to note that in 1996 the electoral constituency was the entire territory where the elections had been held (the Federation of BiH one and Republika Srpska the other electoral unit), i.e. at that time, there was no multi-member electoral constituency within the entity. 17 For seat allocation a simple quota system and method of the biggest remainder were used.
The House of Peoples was recruited in the manner that five delegates (Serbs) from RS were elected in the National Assembly of RS by simple majority by all national representatives, and ten delegates from the Federation of BiH (five Croats and five Bosniaks) were elected so that they have been nominated and elected by the Club of Croats, and/or the Club of Bosniaks in the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH, by majority of votes, as well.
Election of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH was determined so that the delegates for this House were elected by the cantonal legislative bodies in the Federation of BiH in the total number of 30 Bosniaks, 30 Croats and 14 others. Election was conducted by combination of absolute plurality system in a legislative body of the canton and relative majority in the Club of peoples of the body which the candidate belongs to.
Such a manner of constituting political representation at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina puts the citizens of BiH in uneven and unequal position, and the system itself was built on premises that are basically contradictory to the fundamental electoral rights established by numerous international conventions on human rights and fundamental freedoms of man and citizen, and especially by the European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols 1 (Article 3) and 12 (Article 1) that are directly applied in BiH and have priority in application comparing with any local law. 18

The 1996 Election results
For members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following candidates of the three leading parties in BiH have been elected by absolute majority: Alija Izetbegovi ć (SDA) with 79.99 % of the total valid votes of all voters who voted for the Bosniak member of the Presidency of BiH; Kre šimir Zubak (HDZ BiH) with 88.70 % of the total valid votes of all voters who voted for the Croat member of the Presidency of BiH; and Mom čilo Krajišnik (SDS) with 67.30 % of the total valid votes of all voters who voted for the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Distribution of seats in the House of Representative of Parliamentary assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina is shown on the following diagrams by the entity electoral units:

Distribution of seats in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from the territory of Republika Srpska - 1996 (14 seats)
SDS - SDA - National Union

Distribution of seats in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from the territory of the Federation of BiH - 1996
SDA - HDZ - Joint List - Party for BiH
We mention here that for the 1996 elections there were no complete officially published necessary and relevant statistical data on the registration of voters and the results of elections from the regular polling stations by entities, in absence, in SR Yugoslavia, in the Republic Croatia, by mail, by temporary voting papers, and so on, which could serve for more detailed politological analyses of these elections. 19

Table 2 Seats won by political parties for the House of Representatives of Parliamentary assembly of BiH from the territory of the Federation of BiH (28 seats)

Table 3 Seats won by political parties for the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from the territory of Republika Srpska (14 seats)

Local elections in BiH in 1997
At the local elections in BiH in 1997, 91 political parties, 9 coalitions and 159 independent candidates were registered in both entities.
Every of the elected councilmen represents in average 519 registered voters (635 in the Federation BiH and 417 in RS). For distribution of seats a simple quota system PR with the closed lists was applied.
The most convincing result was achieved by the Coalition for unitary and democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina with 802.002 votes and also 1.605 seats or 33,51% of all seats. On the other position by the number of seats (but not by votes as well) is Serb Democratic Party (of Serb countries) with 980 seats and 277.309 votes. Croatian Democratic Party of BiH won 292.281 votes (270.278 in the Federation BiH and 22.003 in RS) and won total 640 seats. 20

Extraordinary elections for the National Assembly of RS - NSRS in 1997
In the same year when the local elections were held in BiH, extraordinary elections for the National Assembly of Republika Srpska were also held on 23 November 1997. For these elections 49 political parties, coalitions and independent candidates (one coalition, 18 independent candidates and 30 political parties) were competing for 83 seats in an unicameral Parliament of Republika Srpska. For 83 representative seats 1.412 candidates (1.059 in RS and 353 in FBiH) took part in this race.

Elections were held in accordance with the PiP/RR of the PIK/PEC with the same electoral system established for the general elections in 1996 with slight changes. In fact, D 'Hondt system of proportional representation with the method of the biggest remainder was applied, which was based on simple quota system. The electoral system contained the formula "“election threshold + distribution quota + quotient of division + remainder from division ". The whole Republika Srpska was one electoral constituency. The number of 808.377 or 70,07% of the registered voters cast their vote, of which there were 792.994 or 98,10 % valid votes.
The best results achieved: Serb Democratic Party 24 seats or 28,91% of the total seats, Coalition for Unitary and Democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDA, Party for BiH, GDS BiH and Liberals of BiH) with 16 seats or 19,27% of the total number of seats, Serb National Union – Biljana Plavšić with 15 seats or 18,07% of the total seats, Serb Radical Party of Republika Srpska with 15 seats or 18,07% of all seats, Socialist Party of Republika Srpska with 9 seats or 10,84% of all seats, Party of Independent Social Democrats with 2 seats or 2,4% of all seats and SDPBiH – Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 14.954 votes and 2 seats or 2,4% of the total number of all seats.

Electoral system and elections in BiH in 1998
For these elections, first of all the election formula was changed in the electoral system. Instead of D ’Hondt formula the method of Sainte-Laguë was introduced.21 Election of the members for the presidency was conducted according to the plurality system in one turn-round (a softer system of relative majority) as in 1996. For the election of representatives in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH a system of proportional representation (PR) was applied, it means “a pure” Sainte-Laguë method of conversion of votes into seats. Election of president and vice-president of RS was conducted according to the plurality system – a softer system of relative majority in one electoral turn-round. Conversion of votes into seats (election formula) for the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH, for the National Assembly of RS, as well as for cantonal legislative bodies was made according to the system of proportional representation (Sainte-Lagu ë method).
Every voter, who was outside BiH, had to make personal registration (active registration), while the voters registered in the Central voting roll for the 1997 municipal elections had to make verification whether their names were entered in the rolls and to update their identification data. Total 2,750,705 voters had been registered, of which number 1,221,261 in RS and 1,529,444 voters in the Federation of BiH; it means 241,479 registered voters more than for the elections held in 1997.
The key provisions of PiP/RR for these elections introduced the following changes in the electoral system: change of the election formula for conversion of votes into seats; the seat of political representatives was reduced from four to two-year period; obligatory balance of gender was introduced on the candidate lists; rotation of the Presidency members and election of the first Chairman was prescribed; possibility of forming party alliances was opened. In addition to these novelties, PiP/RR also introduced obligation of submitting political program with obligatory answer to the four key questions; expanded list of those whose candidature is forbidden (apart from the persons indicted by the International Tribunal for War Crimes in The Hague or with the consent of this Tribunal those accused by the local state authorities, persons sentenced by the international institutions in BiH, and persons in office in other countries etc.), as well as the ban of commercial advertising of political subjects on any electronic media.

Results of the elections held in 1998
For the elections in BiH held on 12 and 13 September 1998, 83 political subjects were registered (57 political parties, of which 34 in the Federation of BiH, and 23 in RS; 10 independent candidates, of that 7 in the Federation BiH and 3 in RS; 6 coalitions of which 3 in RS and 3 in the Federation of BiH and 10 alliances, of which 5 in the Federation of BiH and 5 in RS).

Elections were held for the three-member Presidency of BiH,22 the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, president and vice- president of Republika Srpska, National Assembly of Republika Srpska, House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Federation of BiH, for 10 cantonal assemblies in the Federation of BiH, and for 12 municipal councils that had not been elected on the local elections in 1997.
From the Federation of BiH Alija Izetbegović was elected with 511.541 votes and Ante Jelavić with 189.438 votes. From Republika Srpska Živko Radišić was elected with 359.937 votes.
For 42 members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Coalition for Unitary and Democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved the best result receiving 17 seats (14 in Federation BiH and 3 in RS), and then HDZ with 6 seats, SDP, SDS and Sloga with 4 seats each, Social Democrats of BiH and SRS with 2 seats each, and DNZ, NHI-HKDU and Radical party of RS with one seat each.
Electoral system and elections in BiH in 2000
In the year 2000 elections were held for the last time in the organization and under full supervision of the international community. During this year two cycles of elections were performed: local elections (in April) and general elections (in November).
Local elections held on 8 April 2000 were an important examination for all political subjects before holding of general elections in November 2000. Electoral system, and/or the key variable – election formula for distribution of seats for the local elections, remained the same as for the elections in 1998 (PR system – Sainte Laguë method). The constituencies represented the administrative municipalities’ borders. A threshold of 5% for distribution of seats within the list had been introduced for the candidates. The election results showed the convincing HDZ power in the Croat electorate, SDS power with a slight support of PDP in the Serb electorate, and SDA, SBiH and SDP power in the Bosniaks ’ electorate.
For the needs of general elections held in November 2000, the Rules and Regulations of the provisional Election Commission were adapted in accordance with the provisions of the Draft Permanent Electoral Law, adopted by the Parliament of BiH only in August 2001. In the previous elections (1996 -1998) the Provisional Election Commission conducted the process of registration of political parties for taking part in the elections. Meanwhile, in these elections the parties were required to be registered with the competent court authorities, and the Provisional Election Commission retained the competence regarding verification of political parties for participation in the elections. One of the novelties for these elections was the introduction of independent candidates lists, which could be formed by independent candidates verified for the same electoral unit.
During the preparations for municipal elections held in April 2000, the Provisional Election Commission adopted several important modifications relating to the electoral system itself. First of all, the system of proportional representation was maintained, as according to the Sainte-Lagu ë method, but loosely structured party lists were also introduced (ordinal voting method). In this way the voters were given an opportunity not only to choose for which political party they wish to vote, but also to choose the candidate of the chosen political party list and the number of candidates as they wish to. As we have already pointed out, the seats were distributed further on by applying the Sainte-Lagu ë method, but those candidates who got at least 3% votes won by their political party or coalition were the first who received the seats. 23

Equally important novelty for the elections for the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for the National Assembly of Republika Srpska that multi-seat electoral units were introduced 24, as well as the compensatory seats, and for the elections of president and vice-president of Republika Srpska the system of preferential voting.

Shema - Multi-member constituencies for election of a representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina
At the previous elections (1996-2000) representatives elected for the House of Representatives of BiH, the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH and the National Assembly of RS were elected from one of two electoral constituencies, the limits of which corresponded to the entities in BiH. By introducing multi-seat constituencies, the members of the House of Representatives of BiH and the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH and the National Assembly of RS should have represented determined geographic units covering certain regions in the country, but again within the given entity.
The system of loosely structured list was applied for the election of legislative bodies at the state, entity, and canton level. This system was used for the election of approximately 1/3 of the total number of representatives.
A novelty of allocation of so-called compensatory seats was introduced into the electoral system of BiH. This innovation made possible the allocation of compensatory seats for the parties, which would be inadequately represented in the Parliament as according to the computation of votes in the fundamental electoral units, in accordance with summing up the votes in the whole entity.
For the election of president and vice-president of Republika Srpska, preferential system was introduced as an essential novelty. The system offered an option to the voters of RS to rank their candidates on the ballot papers according to their option.
Table 4 Votes for President of RS - Preferential system in 200025

Results of the election in 2000

At the General elections in BiH in 2000 the following ones took part: 44 political parties, 6 independent candidates and 3 lists of independent candidates. The total number of verified candidates was 5, 814. 26

The total number of registered electors was 2,508.349. Of this number 1,616.313 or 64,4% voters went to the polling stations.
The results of the elections for the House of Representatives of the Parliament of BiH are as follows:

Table 5 Election Statistics from RS and FBiH for PD PS BiH in 2000

Of 42 representatives from the Federation of BiH (the first number in brackets) and Republika Srpska (the second number in brackets) the following parties won the seats: SDP - 9 (8+1); SDA - 8 (7+1); SDS - 6 (0+6); HDZ - 5 (5+0); SBIH - 5 (4+1); PDP -2 (0+2); SP - 1 (0+1); SNS -1 (0+1); SNSSD/DSP - 1 (0+1); BPS - 1 (1+0); DNZ -1 (1+0); DSP - 1 (1+0); NHI - 1 (1+0).
Election results for the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation BiH are as follows:

Table 6 Election Statistics for the Federation of BiH in 2000

The above mentioned parties won together 121 seats and the remainder of 19 seats was distributed among 12 political parties that won together 11% of the votes.
Results of elections for the National Assembly of Republika Srpska are as follows:

Table 7 Election Statistics for RS in 2000

General Elections held in 2002.
Elections held in 2002 are the first elections implemented by the local authorities. At the general elections held in 2002 representatives were elected for the following levels of authorities:

A - State level:
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina three (3) seats of which two (2) seats are elected by the electors from the Federation of BiH and one (1) seat elected by the electors from Republika Srpska applying the system of majority vote.
The House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH with total 42 seats allocated applying the system of proportional representation by a “pure” Sainte Laguë formula, and they are elected by the electors distributed in eight (8) multi-member constituencies of which three (3) ones are formed by the electors registered in Republika Srpska with total 14 seats to be allocated, of which number five (5) are compensatory seats and five (5) multi-member constituencies formed by the electors from the Federation of BiH with total 28 seats of what seven (7) are compensatory seats.

B - Entity Level:
The House of Representative of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH with 98 seats to be allocated applying the system of proportional representation and the “pure” Sainte Laguë formula will be elected by the electors from the territory of FBiH distributed in twelve (12) multi-member constituencies.
The National Assembly of Republika Srpska with 83 seats to be allocated applying the system of proportional representation and “pure” Sainte Laguë formula will be elected by the electors from the territory of RS distributed in six (6) multi-member constituencies.
President and vice-presidents of RS with three (3) seats were elected by the electors from Republika Srpska applying the system of majority vote.
Elections for ten (10) Cantonal Assemblies in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina BiH implemented by applying the system of proportional representation with the "pure" Sainte Laguë formula.
The established election threshold for the distribution of seats is 3% of the total number of valid votes cast in the constituency.
The Electoral Law of BiH provides for “active registration” requiring personal appearance of the electors in the registration centers for entering the name in the voting roll.

Results of Elections in 2002
The following number of political parties, independent candidates and coalitions took part in the general elections in BiH in 2002: 57 political parties, three (3) independent candidates and nine (9) coalitions. Total number of verified candidates was 7.350 for 518 seats for which elections in 2002 were held. For the elections 2.342.141 electors were registered.

Table 8 Election Statistics for the General Elections 2002

B* - Compensatory Seats
Source: Verified final results Official Journal of BiH no. 37/02 of Dec. 16, 2002

According to the final election results all the 31 political subjects won a seat by these elections. One of the basic characteristics of the general elections in 2002 is decreasing voter turnout (55,5%).
The election results showed a strong position of the most powerful parties in BiH. Such a result is explained by the dissatisfaction of the electorate after the Alliance of citizens parties led by Social Democratic Party that formed the government at the preceding elections. So, in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from the territory of the Federation of BIH SDA won 9 seats, Party for BiH 5 seats, Coalition (HDZ, Demochristians) 5 seats, SDP 4 seats and BOSS, Pensioners ' Party, DNZ and NHI one seat each.
In the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH from the territory of Republika Srpska the seats have been won by: SDS - 5 seats, SNSD - 3 seats, PDP - 2 seats, SDA, Party for BiH, SRS and SPRS one seat each.

Local Elections in 2004
Local elections in 2004 are the first elections held at municipal level, city and Br čko District of BiH completely implemented by the local authorities. The importance of the elections in 2004 is also reflected the fact that these were the first elections where citizens elected heads of municipalities and the mayors directly without mediation meetings.
Election of the councilmen was implemented by application of PR system (“pure” Sainte Laguë formula), and 3.141 councilmen were elected in 140 municipalities and two towns (City Mostar and City Banja Luka) and 139 municipal heads and the Mayor of the City of Banja Luka.
Municipal heads were elected applying the plurality system. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina preferential system was applied, where every candidate, in order to be elected, should win minimum 50 % + 1 vote. In case that any candidate did not win the stated minimum of votes, other and next preferences were counted. In Republika Srpska, a system of simple majority was used where the winner was that candidate who won the largest number of votes.
Importance of the election of 2004 is reflected in the fact that these are the first elections implemented for the City of Mostar as a unitary area.
For taking part in the elections, 69 political parties were verified, as well as 180 independent candidates, 18 coalitions and 6 lists of independent candidates comprising 27.427 candidates, of which number 26.618 candidates for councilmen in local governments and 809 candidates for heads/mayors of municipalities/city. 2.322.687 voters were registered for the elections in 2004.

Table 10 Results of the Elections of 2004 for OV/SO
Source: “Official Journal of BiH”,no. 12/05 of May 08, 2005

Results of the elections of 2004 demonstrate that the three biggest parties SDS, SDA and HDZ won more mandates than others, the same as in preceding elections. Nevertheless, in more than 80 (of the total exceeding 140) municipalities, municipal parliaments are composed of one to five political subjects, and others consist of six to nine political subjects speaking of further strengthening of political pluralism in BiH and emphasizing the need of cohabitation between the head and local government. The matter that concerns mostly is the constant decreasing of the voter turnout, which in these elections was reduced to 46,8%.

Table 11 Seats for Municipality Heads won in the Elections of 2004
Source: Verified final results Official Journal of BiH no. 12/52 of May 08, 2005.

Synthesis
General Framework Agreement for Peace, well-known as Dayton Peace Agreement established in 1995 the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina consisting of two entities: Federation of BIH (51% territory) and Republika Srpska (49% territory). The territory of Br čko located on the north of the country was put by the decision of the Arbitration commission under administration of the state of BiH, as a separate administrative unit under the name of Br čko District BiH.
The state is headed by the three-member Presidency, consisted of the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats representatives, who are elected in general elections for the period of four years, so that the Bosniak and Croat member of the Presidency of BiH are elected from the territory of the Federation of BiH, and the Serb member of the Presidency is elected from the territory of Republika Srpska. At the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina is also acting bicameral Parliamentary Assembly, which consists of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. The House of Representatives has 42 directly elected representatives with four-year mandate (28 representatives are from the Federation of BiH and 14 from Republika Srpska). The House of Peoples consists of 15 delegates who are also elected for a four-year period and each of the three constitutive people is represented by five representatives. The Chairman of the BiH Government (Council of Ministers) is appointed by the Presidency of BiH, and approved by the House of Representatives. After that, the Chairman appoints the ministers. Entities also have their legislative authorities. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina it is the bicameral Parliament of Federation, and in Republika Srpska it is a unicameral National Assembly of Republika Srpska.
After more than 40 years of socialism, political transformation results in 1990 in the first multi-party elections, leading to the victory of the three great political parties: Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ). In Bosnia and Herzegovina the war broke in 1992 that was ended in 1995. Annex 3 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina provided the frameworks for the preparation, supervision and implementation of the elections by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Electoral system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a combined, hybrid system with the domination of the proportional system in elections of the legislative bodies, and the plurality system in elections of presidents ’ seats. Namely, the three-member Presidency of BiH is elected by plurality system “first passed the post”. Such system is also applied in the election of the President and vice-president of Republika Srpska. They are elected directly by the electors registered for voting in Republika Srpska. Meanwhile, president and vice-presidents in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are elected indirect in the Parliament of the Federation of BiH under the specific procedure established by the Constitution of the Federation of BiH.
Every citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 18 years and more has the right to vote and to be elected, if registered as an elector in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Law of BiH. Election of members of all authorities is implemented on the basis of the general and equal right to vote by direct and secret voting, except if otherwise regulated by the law. The ballot paper for the election of a representative in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, entity parliaments, cantonal assemblies, councilmen in municipal councils, councilmen in city councils of the town of Mostar and for the representatives in the Assembly of Br čko District makes possible to the elector to vote only for one of the following options: 1) independent candidate 2) political party, coalition or a list of independent candidates. Any elector has a possibility to give, within a candidate list of any political party, coalition or a list of independent candidates, certain advantages to one or more candidates (preferential system). Voting at the level of the local administration is different in the Federation of BiH and in RS.
For the election of the 42 members of the House of Representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH the system of proportional representation with open candidate lists is used. Candidates are elected from several multi-seat constituencies in the Federation of BiH and RS. A part of seats is allocated by means of so-called supplementary or compensatory seats. The election threshold of 3% is established for all the election levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the distribution of seats Sainte-Lagu ë method is used. Candidate lists are loosely structured meaning that the electors may also vote for the candidates within the political party for which they vote. In this way, electors may influence the order of the candidates on the candidate list established by the political party and change it. So that within the number of seats allocated for the party the candidate could be elected in the legislative body he should win minimum 5% of the votes.
The proportional system is applied in the election of representatives in entity and cantonal legislative bodies, and in the election of municipal parliaments.
Local elections held in 2004 promoted a new way of election of municipal heads, and this is a direct election of heads by electors. The electoral system applied in the election of heads (mayors) is different in the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In RS the heads of municipalities and the mayor of the biggest town in that entity Banja Luka are elected by the system of simple majority of valid votes regardless of how many voters went to the polls (system “first passed the post”), and heads of municipalities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH are elected by applying preferential system by which two candidates with the largest number of first preferences (if any of them did not receive 50%+1 of first preferences) go to the counting run-off based on second and other preferences marked by the electors. Election of the mayor in District Br čko, Mostar and Sarajevo has its specificities regarding the procedure and manner of elections, what additionally makes the electoral system in BiH even more complex.
As in most post-socialist countries, after introducing multi-party system, in BiH also appeared a large number of political parties, movements and organizations. After the fifteen-year experience in application of political pluralism, a great number of these political subjects is still on the scene. In local elections of 2004, participation of 69 political parties and 18 coalitions was confirmed. Although this number is too great for stabile democratic societies, the role of political parties of different ideological and program proveniences in the political life of Bosnia and Herzegovina is nevertheless, irreplaceable. It is to be expected that in the next period the political scene in BiH will become expanded with all main characteristics of the political specter: the Left, Center and the Right retained.
Political organizing in BiH is liberalized to the maximum extent, and limitations regarding political party action have been reduced to anti-constitutional activities and inciting religious and national hatred and intolerance.
The role of political parties is irreplaceable in the election process, and especially in respect of the competition of candidates and programs.
In the same context, the role of the media in BiH in electoral campaigns during the observed period was very important. By passing the permanent Electoral Law and by-law acts this matter has been regulated exceptionally well. These regulations insist on impartiality and equality in representing political subjects and define the principles of media presentation of electoral campaign. The established solutions significantly reflect democratic and European principles in access and implementation of the electoral campaign and they have considerably occurred from the suggestions and proposals of the associations gathering electronic media. The electoral law establishes powers the Regulatory Agency for Communications (RAK), which is responsible for the application of law and provisions on media and authorized for regulating the media work; it finally proposes sanctioning of all electronic media offences done in the election period.
According to the law provisions all electronic media shall offer from sixty (60) days before the election date equal and fair presentation of all political subjects, and thirty (30) days before the election date enable all political subjects a free term for direct address. Until 2004, the Law prohibited paid political advertising, but the provision has been deleted in the Law and the provision in force enables all political parties to broadcast in the period of sixty (60) days before elections the paid political spot of three (3) minutes a week in public electronic media and five (5) minutes in private ones.
Meanwhile, Electoral Law does not deal with the issues of printed media in BiH during the electoral campaign. Instead of the regulating by the law, determination was issued by the Council for Print, as a non-government organization, consisting of the representatives of printed media, as well as other individuals from the non-governmental sector. The Council passed a Print Code, derived from the existing European standards of newspapers practice (including the editor-in-chief responsibility, accuracy and correct information), which is deemed moral binding for journalists, editors-in-chief, owners and publishers of newspapers. But, it can be noticed that printed media regularly violate election rules, even on the very day of election silence, since they are not subject to expressive legal sanctions for violation of behavior rules during the election campaign and in the days of election silence.
Campaigns during the preceding elections have been constantly raising the quality and increasing responsible relation of political candidates toward the electoral body. Although the first post-war elections held in 1996 elements of political intimidation or hindering occurred as well as few accidents, later election cycles have built up the culture of democratic dialogue and strength of respect of citizens and political rights that include freedom of expression, gathering and movement. But, it is more than obvious that this is the field where there is still space for leading a campaign in accordance with the highest European and global democratic standards. In this sense, an obstacle for progress is still in the fact that the printed media are not subject to any legally binding regulatory authority during the electoral campaign, but also a low cultural level of communicating characteristic of individual political actors, as it was especially expressed during the final phase of electoral campaigns.
During the latest period, special attention has also been paid to the financing of campaigns. The first rules regarding obligatory submission of financial data on the candidates in BiH were incorporated in the Rules and Regulations of the Provisional Election Commission of BiH in 1998. Candidates were obliged to submit their statements on the revenues and on the sources of incomes, property, expenditures and other obligations. The Provisional Election Commission PIK OSCE has not been engaged in checking accuracy of the data given. Instead, the public opinion has been given a possibility to be sure, based on insight in the enclosed candidates ’ statements, of the accuracy of the data published as an addendum to the newspapers, (these were also put on OSCE web site), for checking correctness and assessment of authenticity of the candidates and political subjects to whom they intend to give their electors ’ confidence.
A great step forward in this sense was made during the year 2000, when the Parliament adopted the law on the financing of political parties. The Law prescribed to the Election Commission of BiH obligation of forming a separate agency for auditing the financing of political parties. The Law defines the limitations related to the manner of gathering financial funds, as well as the costs of the political parties for pre-electoral campaign according to which, political party may assure the funds for its work from the membership fees, incomes of legal and individual persons, incomes from properties in the ownership of political party, incomes from budget if the political parties are represented in corresponding legislative authorities and profits from revenues of enterprises in the ownership of that political party. The law also introduced the limitation to the extent of the contribution that legal and individual persons may grant to the political party.
When the Provisional Election Commission implemented the elections, auditing of financial statements was done by a team for auditing that was formed within the Office of OSCE Mission to BiH, and the sanctions for any deficiencies in financial statements were passed by the Election Appeal Sub-commission. After passing the permanent Electoral Law of BiH and establishing of permanent Election Commission of BiH, this activity is implemented by the mentioned service. The Electoral Law of BiH contains provisions limiting the consumption in the aim of political campaign. The law establishes that the Election Commission of BiH shall publish ninety (90) days before the elections exact number of electors registered in the Central electors roll for every election turn-round. Political party must not spend for the needs of electoral campaign more than one (1) KM by registered elector for the election turn-round.
Political parties in BIH are obliged to submit to the Electoral Commission three types of financial statements and these are: 1. regular (annual) financial statements for every calendar year (these statements shall be submitted at the latest until March 31, for the preceding year); 2. financial statement preceding the period of electoral campaign (these statements are submitted on the day of submitting the Application for verification of the participation at the elections, covering the period of three months before the day of submitting the application for verification); and 3. statement to be submitted within thirty (30) days from the date of publishing of election results for the period from the date of submitting the application for verification for the elections to the date of verification of the election results.
The Election Commission of BiH is responsible for all statements to be put for insight of the public by publishing in the official journal, on the official we site, as well as to undertake appropriate measures for assuring to all citizens undisturbed and free access to the information contained in the statements.
As to the legal remedies in BiH, there were different solutions in the preceding period. While the OSCE organized elections, the key appeal instance was the Election Appeal Sub-commission (EASC) formed in May 1996, with the task to supervise all the aspects of the election process including also any violence of the election process and appearance of irregularities. For the protection of right to vote since 2001, the following local authorities have been established: election commissions (municipal election commissions and Election Commission of BiH), Election Council for Complaints and Appeals and Appeals Department of the Court of BiH (court protection).
Any person, political party or coalition having legal interest or any of these whose right established on the basis of the Electoral Law of BiH is violated is authorized to submit legal remedies i.e. complaints and appeals. The complaint is submitted in written form and must be signed by the person submitting it. Municipal election commission is competent in the first instance in its municipality for deciding on all matters that are not expressively in the competence of the Election Council for Complaints and Appeals. The Election Commission of BiH decides on complaints of the decisions of all municipal election commissions except if the matter refers to violations of the rules on behavior understanding electioneering in peaceful environment, freely presenting political standpoints without using the language of hatred, which could provoke somebody ’s violation on the polling station. The Election Council for Complaints and Appeals decides in the first instance on violations of the above mentioned rules of behavior except the violations of this paragraph occurred on the polling station. In second instance, it decides on the complaints on the decisions of municipal election commissions referring to the violations of the mentioned rules occurred on the polling station. The Appeal Department of the Court of BiH is competent for deciding on the complaints on the decisions made by the Election Commission of BiH or the Election Council for Complaints and Appeals.
Despite of emphasized needs for information technologies in election process, they had not been fully used in Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with the increased needs and exceptionally complex electoral system. The reason for this is the fact that the electoral process from 1996 to 2002 was organized and supervised by the international community, which had possessed its own system of information support to the electoral process and its own professional staff paid for this job more than in average paid employees of the same profession in the local state institutions. After ending this mandate, the high professional information staff mostly left the job in the Election Commission of BiH, and the developed software became partly obsolete since it does not follow up the changes in election legislation and has not been integrated in a single system for the whole state. The Election Commission of BiH has recently initiated several ideas for solving these problems, and one of the greatest - supported by the Parliament of BiH is the obligation of other bodies (CIPS Project) for enabling passive registration of electors. In this way, the present system of active registration would be changed and the responsibility of the state institutions would be the automatic updating of the data from the central electors' rolls.
The second important segment of the application of computer technology, such as introduction of electronic voting, is considered only as an idea. The assessment is that BiH will wait for more favorable times and experiences to be acquired by others for paying more attention to this issue.
The whole work of the Election Commission of BiH (IKBiH) is accessible on the official web site and through this web site, great support is made to the authenticity of the IKBiH work and the electoral process in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Finally, it should be point out that the historical wheel of political transformation of BiH from a long-year one-party system to contemporary pluralism inevitably goes forward improving the BiH political and electoral system at every new election cycle. The result of this process, among others, is the fact that BiH now has authoritative central election commission consisting of the local experts and representing conditio sine qua non of further development of electoral system and electoral process in BiH in accordance with the highest democratic standards. It is to be expected that Bosnia and Herzegovina will rationalize, additionally build up and fully harmonize its electoral system until October 2006 with the European democratic heritage and in this manner open a new era of its democratic development.