The leader of the Bosnian Croat HDZ BiH party, Dragan Covic, reiterated on Tuesday that conditions do not exist to hold an election in October, adding, however, that an opportunity still exists for an agreement on electoral reform to be reached with the adoption of the relevant laws in the state parliament.

Covic told reporters in Sarajevo that the last round of negotiations on the electoral reform, which ended inconclusively on Sunday, had nevertheless resulted in agreement on how members of the country’s presidency and delegates to the House of Peoples in the Bosniak-Croat Federation entity would be elected and this could then serve as a starting point to adopt the necessary legislative solutions.

“That is exactly what we are asking for because that is required by the Constitutional Court,” said Covic.

He said he plans to talk with the leaders of other parliamentary parties to see if they are willing to back appropriate legislative arrangements so that the election can be held lawfully.

Covic claimed that a clear political agreement exists on how to implement the rulings by the European Court of Human Rights and the country’s Constitutional Court.

According to him, that means that all negotiators agree that the Croat and Bosniak members of the state presidency would be elected by electors by dividing 300 electoral points given to cantons based on the size of their population and ethnic composition.

The federal House of Peoples would be elected by national parliamentary groups in entity cantonal assemblies.

Covic claimed that this is all the result of a compromise agreed to by the HDZ BiH because the party initially advocated the establishment of two electoral constituencies within the federation entity while the red line was always that the House of Peoples in the Federation entity must remain a legislative body and that its powers must not be reduced, which is something the predominantly Bosniak Party for Democratic Action (SDA) insisted on.

“The negotiation process is finished and now it’s all up to the parliamentary procedure,” Covic said, noting that at the moment there are no legal conditions to hold the election because the 2016 Constitutional Court ruling on appeal by Bozo Ljubic has not been implemented.

The Central Electoral Commission BiH (SIP) nevertheless decided that in the current circumstances, it would continue preparations for the election, which is scheduled for the first Sunday in October.

Holding the election then is supported by the EU, US, OSCE mission and the Office of the High Representative (OHR).

Covic announced that the presidencies of the HDZ BiH president and Croatian National Assembly (HNS BiH) would make a decision by the end of the week on how Croat parties will react to those plans. He said that the SIP’s current composition is unlawful and hence it does not have the legitimacy to organise the election.

The HNS BiH on Tuesday welcomed the inclusion of the term “constituent peoples” from the BiH Constitution in the EU Strategic Compass, considering this to be important for the continuation of the electoral reform.

The foreign and defence ministers of the European Union member states on Monday adopted a Strategic Compass, which gives a vision of the Union’s defence development, and at Croatia’s insistence, the document made an explicit reference to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constituent peoples.

HNS BiH expects the adoption of that document to be an inspiration for the electoral reform and to remove discrimination against any citizen and ensure the equality of all three constituent peoples.