The Commission considered the issue at the request of Bosnian political parties engaged in negotiations on constitutional changes.
State Presidency chairman Sulejman Tihic, who is visiting Brussels, told the Sarajevo-based newspaper that his office received the preliminary opinion of the Venice Commission, a Council of Europe expert body, on Tuesday.
"They prefer this indirect election but think that the proposal we sent them has many limitations," said Tihic.
He explained that the Commission thought there were serious possibilities of blocking the election and suggested excluding the House of Peoples from the process. "Their opinion is that this House should be abolished or its authority reduced instead of strengthened, as was the case with this model."
The Venice Commission also suggested eliminating a clause stating that an entity majority of deputies is necessary to confirm the election of the state president in the House of Representatives.
This clause prompted the Croat representatives in the state parliament to say yesterday they would not endorse the draft constitutional changes because that kind of voting would only deepen the existing divisions in the country by giving the two entities (Serb and Croat-Muslim) a much bigger role than they objectively should have.
In the future Bosnia would have one president and two vice presidents who would rotate every 16 months. These officials would also be members of the state Presidency.
The Venice Commission also maintains that the current model of electing the state Presidency members, a Serb from the Serb entity and a Croat and a Muslim from the Federation, is untenable because it contravenes the fundamental principles of the Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms. Under the existing model, a Croat or a Muslim from Republika Srpska or a Serb from the Federation cannot become head of state.
Parliament is expected to tackle constitutional changes in early April at the latest so that the proposed solutions could become amendments to the Constitution in time and applied to the Election Law before the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for this autumn.
Haris Silajdzic of the Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to resolutely oppose the proposed solutions and is supported by many minor opposition parties.