Home > 4.1.2 Upper house > BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA - Amicus Curiae Brief for the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Mode of Election of Delegates to the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
 
 
 
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Paragraph 61
 

Whether the selection of members of the Federation House of Peoples is in line with Article 25 of the ICCPR, which recognises and protects the right of every citizen to take part in the conduct of public affairs, the right to vote and to be elected and the right to have access to public service – is another question, but the reasoning could be similar. The people’s rights within the constitutional structure must comply with the norms in Article 25 including the right to vote, equal suffrage and the prohibition against unreasonable discrimination. These rights are clearly not absolute, but General Comment to that Article (1996) states that any restrictions on the right to vote must be established by law and based on reasonable and objective criteria. The grounds with respect to the right to vote and to be elected in the BiH system are established by law, therefore the question is whether the BiH system is deemed objective and reasonable. But, it might be inferred from the above that the concepts of equal voting power do not apply to the special parts of the BiH legislature, since they are to represent constituent peoples – and hence are designed to meet the unique specificities of BiH.