CONSTITUTIONAL COURT NOT COMPETENT TO ASSESS ELECTION RULES

SARAJEVO, Feb 3 (Hina) - The Constitutional Court of Bosnia- Herzegovina on Friday ruled that it had no competence to assess whether changes in rules for the election of representatives to Houses of Peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina and its Croat-Moslem entity (Federation) were in compliance with the Constitution. Thus, the Court dismissed the appeal which the Croat member of Bosnia's three-man Presidency and the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), Ante Jelavic, lodged with the Court on this matter. According to a statement the Constitutional Court released after its session on Friday, the Court refused the request of Jelavic who asked this body to establish whether rules under which the OSCE mission in Bosnia had the right to regulate the elections for the Houses of Peoples of the state and federal parliament were in accordance with the country's Constitution. "The Court has established that in this case there is no principle of substitution of the national legislation, and electoral rules and regulations were adopted in accordance with the original powers bestowed on the Provisional Election Commission (which acts within the OSCE mission) under Annex III of the General Framework Peace Agreement," read the statement. The Court confirmed that the head of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission, Robert Barry, had the full right to decide on new regulations for the said election. This ruling particularly disappointed the HDZ BiH as this political party believed that Barry's rules were "the election engineering" which would help representatives of the Bosniac (Moslem) people to exert crucial influence on the election of some Croat deputies to the houses of peoples of the two parliaments. Members of Croatia's Sabor delegation, that paid a two-day visit to Bosnia, on Friday expressed similar opinions at a news conference prior to their departure for Zagreb. During its stay in the Bosnian capital, Croatia's parliamentary delegation held talks with officials of political parties in Bosnia and international organisations, including Ambassador Robert Barry. However, a spokesman for the OSCE mission in Bosnia told Hina that members of the Sabor delegation, led by Zdravko Tomac, had not at all insisted on the change of the rules during their talks with OSCE mission head Barry. They came to be acquainted with the OSCE's standpoints, spokesman Luke Zahner said adding that the ultimate result of the meeting was the full agreement on the respect for the Constitutional Court's ruling on the matter. Jelavic also on Thursday said he would respect the court's ruling. He forwarded a letter to the High Representative to Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsc, confirming that the HDZ BiH would accept the Constitutional Court's decision and in accordance to it, this party would take parts in bids to set up authorities at all levels. Jelavic promised that his party would restrain itself from an kind of "radical moves." (hina) ms,