The SIP has established that the election of Zivko Budimir as the president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of Svetozar Pudaric ad Mirsad Kebo as the two deputy presidents was unlawful, as their election was conducted in the Federation bicameral parliament's House of Peoples although that upper house was not founded in compliance with the election law.
"The election of deputies from all ten cantons to the House of Peoples has not been carried out in line with the election legislation, which means that conditions for the establishment of the House of Peoples have not been met. Our second decision is to annul the election of the president and the two deputy presidents of the Federation as a result of our conclusion that this procedure in the Federation's parliament has not been carried out in accordance with the election law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our third decision is to order cantonal assemblies that have not yet appointed (their deputies for the House of Peoples) to immediately convene sessions and do it," Hadziabdic told reporters in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.
The rulings of the election commission will be officially forwarded to all concerned parties on Friday and they can lodge appeals with the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the next two days.
The Court's appeals chamber is expected to make a final and binding decision in three days' time after it receives the appeals.
Hadziabdic stressed that the decisions made by the SIP were not final.
The decisions were made after the Federation's outgoing President, Borjana Kristo, and the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), Dragan Covic, appealed against the election of Budimir and his deputies.
Last week, a bloc led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) saw to it that Budimir, Pudaric and Kebo be elected as the Federation's leaders so that the SDP-led coalition could continue with forming the new government.
The HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990 parties challenged this election, as they insist that the SDP-led coalition ignored the will of the Croat electorate. A majority of votes from the Bosnian Croat electorate was mustered by those two parties but they are not included in the formation of the new Federation government.
The SDP-led coalition has said that it will not respect the SIP's decisions, explaining that it will only abide by rulings to be made by the Federation's Constitutional Court.
The Court has not yet convened a session to consider the case.