NO VIOLATION OF BOSNIAK VITAL NATIONAL INTEREST REGARDING REFERENDUM

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 3 /SRNA/ – The Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska has established today that the vital national interest of the Bosniak people was not violated by the Law on Amendments to the Law on Referendum and Civic Initiative, nor by the decision for this law’s early entry.

The Constitutional Court’s Vital National Interests Protection Panel stated in its reasoning that the referendum commission, as defined in the contested law, does not have the status of a public institution or a body of legislative, executive, or judicial authority, for which there is a constitutional obligation for appropriate representation of the constituent peoples, which is why the applicant's claims of a violation of such constitutional guarantees cannot be linked to the provisions of the contested law. The Panel also concluded that the rule on the representation of constituent peoples and others in election or referendum bodies does apply to the composition of the referendum commission under the contested law, meaning the law does not create any form of unequal rights among constituent peoples in the decision-making process. The Panel assessed that the law in question does not place any constituent people at a disadvantage, nor does it discriminate among them in terms of the enjoyment of guarantees related to vital national interests as defined by the Constitution, the Court stated. The Constitutional Court also ruled that the decision to call a republic-level referendum and the decision on its early enforcement do not violate the vital national interest of the Bosniak constituent people. The Panel assessed that the claims and allegations made by the Bosniak People's Caucus in the Council of Peoples of Republika Srpska, which express concerns and assumptions about the possible consequences of the referendum results and their implementation for this people, as well as potential discrimination, are not legally relevant to the issue of violation of vital national interest. The Panel determined that the decision to call a referendum and determine the content of the referendum question, and to set the date of its implementation, as well as the decision on the early entry into force of the said decision, apply equally to all peoples and citizens, and cannot endanger vital national interests nor lead to discrimination in the enjoyment of any rights guaranteed by the Constitution. It is also stated that the decisions do not have a national/ethnic character, but rather, regardless of national affiliation, they apply equally to all citizens, who are free to exercise their right to participate in the referendum.