Arnautovic Wants Bosnian Serbs Barred From Voting in Serbia
Bosnian Election Commission member Suad Arnautovic wants constitutional and legal changes that would bar dual citizens, including Serbs from Republika Srpska, from voting in neighboring countries.
Two weeks before Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general election, set for October 4, a member of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC), Suad Arnautovic, has called for changes to the constitution and the election law that would stop dual citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina from voting in neighboring countries. He laid out the proposal in a statement to the Fena news agency on September 19. If adopted, it would also hit part of the citizens of Republika Srpska who, as dual citizens of Serbia, currently vote in Serbian elections, as well as the Serb member of Bosnia’s Presidency.
What Arnautovic Is Actually Asking For
Arnautovic said the incoming Parliamentary Assembly and Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be formed after the October vote, should tackle what he called the “strategic issue” of dual citizenship. He pointed to a mismatch between Article I.7(d) of the Bosnian constitution and Article 1.5 of the election law, which he says produces a string of contradictions in practice over who is allowed to vote where.
“It is inconceivable that our member of the Presidency, in other words the head of state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, can vote for the president of another, neighboring state. That is an inconceivable thing that does not exist anywhere in the world,” Arnautovic said.
He noted that the system for voting outside Bosnia and Herzegovina dates back to 1996, when elections in the country were organized by the OSCE mission, and argued it has long needed a thorough overhaul. He also cited the principle of no representation without taxation, arguing that voting rights should not extend to a state where a person pays no tax.
Automatic Registration and Postage Costs
Arnautovic also proposed that Bosnia and Herzegovina register every eligible citizen living abroad for voting automatically, by default, replacing the current system in which voters must apply themselves.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina must automatically register for voting all its citizens with voting rights who cast ballots outside the country,” Arnautovic said, adding that diplomatic and consular missions should take over sending ballot envelopes to Sarajevo, with postage covered from the state budget rather than paid by voters themselves, as is the case now.
How Many Voters Cast Ballots From Neighboring Countries
For the upcoming election, 48,078 voters have registered to vote from abroad: 45,457 by mail and 2,621 through diplomatic and consular missions, while 5,259 voters failed to meet the registration requirements. Voting is planned at 20 missions in 13 countries, subject to a threshold of at least 50 registered voters per mission, which the CEC can lower when the number comes close to that minimum.
The largest number of registered voters abroad is in Munich, with 434, followed by Vienna with 266, Amman with 199, and Berlin with 186. The numbers are far more modest in neighboring countries: 59 voters are registered in Zagreb, 46 in Rijeka, and 51 in Belgrade, right at the threshold the CEC requires to organize voting there at all.
Tegeltija and RTRS Push Back
The proposal was immediately rejected by Milan Tegeltija, a lawyer and adviser to the president of Republika Srpska, who argues that Arnautovic’s position calls into question the voting rights of dual citizens themselves. Republika Srpska’s public broadcaster RTRS, reporting on the statement, also flagged a terminology error, since Bosnia and Herzegovina has no single “head of state” but a collective Presidency, and said that given the timing so close to the election, the message appears aimed above all at the current Serb member of the Presidency, Zeljka Cvijanovic, and the Croat candidate Darijana Filipovic.
Whether the next Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina will even take up the question of dual citizenship remains open until a government is formed after October 4. Until then, by Arnautovic’s own account, voting from outside Bosnia and Herzegovina still runs under rules put in place three decades ago.
