The high representative of the international community in BiH, Christian Schmidt, tonight, on election night, imposed unannounced changes to the electoral law related to the structure and functioning of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH and the way of making decisions, which are in favor of the Croats.

"It is crucial for the fate of this country that there is no more blockade. That's why I imposed measures that will improve the functionality of the institutions in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina", says the announcement of the high representative published. in the evening on the website of his office (OHR). He adds that this decision does not affect the implementation of the results of the elections held today, reports Hina.

He explained that his decision increased the number of representatives in the federal House of Peoples, which allows for the distribution of mandates in such a way as to correct the over-representation of each of the three constituent nations in some districts, which was discussed in a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the "Ljubić" case and in some other judgments.

Also, now for the first time in the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, persons who do not declare themselves as members of the constituent nations of all counties can be represented. These decisions, as stated by Schmidt, aim to prevent the paralysis of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the elections.

Details of the changes are confirmed on the OHR website. According to them, in the future the federal House of Peoples will consist of three parliamentary groups of constituent nations, which instead of the previous 17, will have 23 representatives each, while the parliamentary group of representatives of national minorities will have 11 representatives instead of seven.

In addition, in the future the qualified majority for nominating the President and Vice-President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be 11 instead of the previous six representatives from the national parliamentary groups and in this way an obvious advantage is given to the representatives coming from parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a Croat majority in the parliamentary group of the Croats.

If the proposal of 11 deputies is not accepted, then the qualified majority of the proposers will be reduced to seven, and then to four deputies.

The previous rule that six representatives constitute a qualified majority for nominating the holder of the executive power opened the possibility for Croatian representatives elected to the House of People from the list of civil and Bosniak parties to also receive this controlling stake, which caused great dissatisfaction in the parties with Croatian sign.

Schmidt emphasized in his statement that his decision in no way affects the implementation of the voting results of the October 2 elections, but also that the electoral reform must continue.

"This is not and cannot be a broad reform of the electoral law that has yet to be implemented," Schmidt said, adding that he remains ready to personally participate in it in the coming period.