MERITS AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF BIH RULING U-23-14

Sa？etak The following article highlights the key parts of the Ljubi？ case and describes its merits and meaning. It can be a guide design a new electoral code. In sum, the ruling makes clear that: 1) The current election law violates the rights of the Constituent Peoples to elect their legitimate representatives, as enshrined in BiH’s Constitution, as the current election law has created a system that enabled for the representatives of the Constituent Peoples to the Federation House of the Peoples to be elected without being the legitimate representatives of the Constituent People. 2) The right of the Constituent People to elect their legitimate representatives also applies to all other state institutions that were designed to protect the rights of the Constituent People, including the House of Peoples of BiH and the three-member Presidency of BiH. 3) Members of one Constituent Peoples must be able to elect their legitimate representatives by themselves, without any interference by the members of the other two Constituent Peoples. 4) One vote within each of the electoral units (in the case of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the FBiH, within each of the three constituent peoples and the Others) must have equal value