issued by the Registrar of the Court
ECHR 217 (2014)
15.07.2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina must establish a political
system for elections without discrimination
no. 3681/06), which is not final1, the European Court of Human Rights held:
by six votes to one, that there had been a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in
conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (right to free elections) to the European Convention on
Human Rights as regards Ms Zornić’s ineligibility to stand for election to the House of Peoples of
Bosnia and Herzegovina ; and,
unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 (general prohibition of
discrimination) to the European Convention as regards Ms Zornić’s ineligibility to stand for election
both to the House of Peoples as well as to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The case concerned Ms Zornić’s ineligibility to stand for election to the House of Peoples and the
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina because she refuses to declare affiliation to any particular
ethnic group but declares herself as a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, in accordance with the
Constitution, only those who declare affiliation with the so-called “constituent peoples” (namely,
Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs) are entitled to stand for election.
The Court held that Ms Zornić’s case was identical to the Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina
case of December 2009 concerning the inability of a Roma and a Jew to stand for elections to the
House of Peoples and to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It therefore came to the same
conclusions as in that case, namely that the constitutional provisions which prevented Ms Zornić –
and the applicants in that case – from running for election were on the ground of origin and had
been put in place to ensure peace following a brutal conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina between
1992 and 1995 marked by genocide and “ethnic cleansing”. However, noting the significant positive
developments in the country and the existence of other mechanisms of power-sharing which did not
automatically lead to the total exclusion of representatives of other communities, the Court held
that Ms Zornić’s continued ineligibility to stand for election had lacked objective and reasonable
justification, amounting to a discriminatory difference in treatment.
The nature of the conflict was such that the approval of the “constituent peoples” was necessary to
ensure peace. However , the Court considered that, even more so now, more than 18 years after the
end of the tragic conflict, there could no longer be any reason for the contested constitutional
provisions to be maintained. Indeed, the time had come for a political system which would provide
every citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the right to stand for elections to the Presidency and
the House of Peoples without discrimination based on ethnic affiliation and without granting special
rights for “constituent peoples” to the exclusion of minorities or citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This would necessarily require constitutional changes.
1 Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, this Chamber judgment is not final. During the three-month period following its delivery,
any party may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. If such a request is made, a panel of five judges
considers whether the case deserves further examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and deliver a final
judgment. If the referral request is refused, the Chamber judgment will become final on that day.
Once a judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of its execution.
Further information about the execution process can be found here: www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution
