Both the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission have expressed concern on numerous occasions regarding the specific limitations on the right to be elected that are based on ethnicity. These ethnically based limitations include Articles 8.1 (Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and 12.3 (Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Republika Srpska) of the Election Law. These limitations are based in part on Article V of the Constitution. None of the proposed amendments address this problem. However, it must be recognized that this problem can only be addressed by amending both the Constitution and the Election Law. Constitutional change in Bosnia and Herzegovina has made no progress.
