The Council of Europe has criticised the authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina over their failure to ensure that the forthcoming elections are organised in accordance with a ruling of the Strasbourg-based Court for Human Rights calling for the elimination of discrimination against ethnic minorities in the election of the country's collective presidency.
A delegation of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly(PACE), which has recently visited Bosnia, "is seriously concerned that, contrary to several recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly as well as in violation of a legally-binding judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, the authorities failed to amend the State Constitution," reads the statement issued by the Council of Europe office in Sarajevo on Thursday.
"Consequently, the elections to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to the House of Peoples of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliamentary Assembly, will be organised according to rules which do not comply with the European Convention on Human Rights," the delegation stated calling on the authorities "to do their utmost after the elections to urgently resolve this problem."
The Strasbourg-based court ruled in favour of two representatives of the Jews and the Roam in Bosnia who complained that the Bosnian constitution did not enable members of these ethnic groups to elect their representatives to the Bosnian tripartite presidency and the upper house of the bicameral Bosnian state parliament. Only representatives of the three constituent peoples -- Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks), Croats and Serbs -- can be elected to those bodies.
Last December, the court labelled such regulations of the Bosnian Constitution as being in contravention of the European Human Rights Convention.
During their visit to Bosnia, PACE representatives also found that the financing of major parties was lacking in transparency.
The Council of Europe said that its 30 observers would monitor the general election in Bosnia, set for 3 October.
