Open Site - Regional: Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Government and Politics: Government

Top: Regional: Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Government and Politics: Government

[ history ]

Executive branch

Chief of state: Chairman of the Presidency Dragan COVIC (chairman since 27 June 2003; presidency member since 5 October 2002 - Croat) other members of the three-member rotating (every eight months) presidency: Sulejman TIHIC (since 5 October 2002 - Bosniak) and Borislav PARAVAC (since 10 April 2003 - Serb); note - Mirko SAROVIC resigned 2 April 2003.
Elections: the three members of the presidency (one Bosniak, one Croat, one Serb) are elected by popular vote for a four-year term; the member with the most votes becomes the chairman unless he or she was the incumbent chairman at the time of the election, but the chairmanship rotates every eight months; election last held 5 October 2002 (next to be held NA 2006); the chairman of the Council of Ministers is appointed by the presidency and confirmed by the National House of Representatives.
Head of Government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers Adnan TERZIC (since 20 December 2002).
Cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the council chairman; approved by the National House of Representatives election results: percent of vote - Mirko SAROVIC with 35.5% of the Serb vote was elected chairman of the collective presidency for the first eight months; Dragan COVIC received 61.5% of the Croat vote; Sulejman TIHIC received 37% of the Bosniak vote.

Note: President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Niko LOZANCIC (since 27 January 2003); Vice Presidents Sahbaz DZIHANOVIC (since NA 2003) and Desnica RADIVOJEVIC (since NA 2003); President of the Republika Srpska: Dragan COVIC (since 28 November 2002).

[ history ]

Legislative Branch

Bicameral Parliamentary Assembly or Skupstina consists of the National House of Representatives or Predstavnicki Dom (42 seats - elected by proportional representation, 28 seats allocated from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 14 seats from the Republika Srpska.
Members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) and the House of Peoples or Dom Naroda (15 seats - 5 Bosniak, 5 Croat, 5 Serb. Members elected by the Bosniak/Croat Federation's House of Representatives and the Republika Srpska's National Assembly to serve four-year terms).
Note - Bosnia's election law specifies four-year terms for the state and first-order administrative division entity legislatures.
Election Results National House of Representatives - percent of vote by party/coalition - SDA 21.9%, SDS 14.0%, SBiH 10.5%, SDP 10.4%, SNSD 9.8%, HDZ 9.5%, PDP 4.6%, others 19.3%; seats by party/coalition - SDA 10, SDS 5, SBiH 6, SDP 4, SNSD 3, HDZ 5, PDP 2, others 7. House of Peoples - percent of vote by party/coalition - NA%; seats by party/coalition - NA
Elections: National House of Representatives - elections last held 5 October 2002 (next to be held in NA 2006). House of Peoples - last constituted NA January 2003 (next to be constituted in 2007)
Note: the Bosniak/Croat Federation has a bicameral legislature that consists of a House of Representatives (98 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms). elections last held 5 October 2002 (next to be held NA October 2006). Percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party/coalition - SDA 32, HDZ-BiH 16, SDP 15, SBiH 15, other 20; and a House of Peoples (60 seats - 30 Bosniak, 30 Croat); last constituted December 2002.
The Republika Srpska has a National Assembly (83 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms). Elections last held 5 October 2002 (next to be held in the fall of 2006); percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party/coalition - SDS 26, SNSD 19, PDP 9, SDA 6, SRS 4, SPRS 3, DNZ 3, SBiH 4, SDP 3, others 6. As a result of the 2002 constitutional reform process, a 28-member Republika Srpska Council of Peoples (COP) was established in the Republika Srpska National Assembly. Each constituent nation and "others" will have eight delegates