Four parties that have formed the executive government in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will not respect the decision made by the Bosnia-Herzegovina Central Election Commission (SIP) annulling last week's election of the president and the two deputy presidents of the Bosnian Federation (Croat-Muslim entity) and it will only respect the decision made by the Federation's Constitutional Court, leaders of the Social Democratic party (SDP), the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Croatian party of Rights (HSP) and the Prosperity Through Work Party (NSRzB) said on Thursday.
HSP vice president Zivko Budmir whose election as president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was declared unlawful by SIP said the election commission continued to insist on its policy of favouring the two Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) parties and their aspirations to form a government. Budmir said the colaition would respect only the decisions passed by the Constitutional Court.
Earlier today, SIP annulled last week's election of the president and the two deputy presidents of the Bosnian Federation (Croat-Muslim entity), SIP chairwoman Irena Hadziabdic said on Thursday, adding that the decision, which was not made unanimously, could be appealed.
SIP has established that the election of Zivko Budimir as the president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of Svetozar Pudaric ad Mirsad Kebo as the two deputy presidents was unlawful, as their election was conducted in the Federation bicameral parliament's House of Peoples although that upper house was not founded in compliance with the election law.
The rulings of the election commission will be officially forwarded to all concerned parties on Friday and they can lodge appeals with the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the next two days.
The Court's appeals chamber is expected to make a final and binding decision in three days' time after it receives the appeals.
Last week, a bloc led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) saw to it that Budimir, Pudaric and Kebo be elected as the Federation's leaders so that the SDP-led coalition could continue with forming the new government.
The HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990 parties challenged this election, as they insist that the SDP-led coalition ignored the will of the Croat electorate. A majority of votes from the Bosnian Croat electorate was mustered by those two parties but they are not included in the formation of the new Federation government.
The SDP-led coalition has said that it will not respect the SIP's decisions, explaining that it will only abide by rulings to be made by the Federation's Constitutional Court.
The Court has not yet convened a session to consider the case.
