Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Adjudication of Power-Sharing Arrangements in Sub-State Constitutions

Abstract

The Constitutional Court reviewed the constitutionality of the provisions regulating the election of the presidents and vice-presidents in the constitutions of the Republika Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the two federal units in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the accompanying provisions of the Electoral Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Court partially adopted the request for constitutionality finding the relevant provisions to be discriminatory, and thus unconstitutional, but without invalidating them or ordering the relevant legislatures of the entities to harmonise the contested provisions with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This presents an important decision not only for the evolution of the Court’s approach to the adjudication of consociational power-sharing mechanisms in the country, but also for the apparent introduction of a novel type of constitutional review.