ČOVIĆ: BOSNIAKS BLOCK AMENDMENTS TO THE ELECTORAL LAW, CROATS WILL NOT BE NATIONAL MINORITY

SARAJEVO, APRIL 4 /SRNA/ - Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly Dragan Čović said that it is clear to everyone that the Bosniaks in this House want to block the adoption of amendments to the Electoral Law of BiH, noting the Croats will not be reduced to a national minority.

Čović says the amendments to the BiH Electoral Law are not subject to agreement, but to the implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court’s decisions.

"What is a more important decision than the Electoral Law of BiH, which elects key persons in the executive and legislative power of BiH, above all the BiH Presidency members who should decide on foreign and monetary policy, as well as on security," Čović said at the session of the House of Peoples.

He has stated that by putting amendments to the Electoral Law of BiH on the agenda of today's emergency session of the House of Peoples, the Croat people wants to elect their own member of the BiH Presidency, in addition to agreements made in the restaurants.

Čović called on all deputies who, as he says, swear in BiH to respect the Rules of Procedure of the House of Peoples, not to violate them and to stick to the agenda.

He has pointed out that two Bosniak members of the BiH Presidency are holding back the budget of the institutions of BiH for two months only because they do not like the issues discussed in the executive and legislative branches.

"The Council of Ministers somehow adopted it, now two members of the Presidency say that there is no rush. We don't need such members of the Presidency," pointed out Čović.

He says the expanded Bosniak People Caucus had prepared to block today's session of the House of Peoples, which they had been announcing since yesterday, calling on them to join the session and talk about technical amendments to the Electoral Law in three months.

The deputy of the Croat People Caucus, Marina Pendeš, at whose request the amendments to the BiH Electoral Law were entered into the agenda, says she only wants the legitimate will of the Croat people to be implemented and that those who obstruct that right want to prevent the beginning of today's emergency session.

The deputy of the Croat People Caucus Zdenko Ćosić says the citizens of BiH are getting used to the fact that it is natural that out of the three members of the BiH Presidency, two members are elected by one people.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples Kemal Ademović says that when the Electoral Law of BiH is discussed, he will advocate what his political option proposed in Neum, which is introducing the fourth member of the BiH Presidency.

Chairman of the Bosniak People Caucus Šefik Džaferović says the House of Peoples is not in a position today to discuss amendments to the BiH Electoral Law.