Main concepts

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a state that consists of two entities: Republika Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is also the self-governing District of Brcko of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

National youth policy does not exist in Bosnia and Herzegovina yet due to its constitutional structure and because certain jurisdictions (like youth) are tied by the Constitution to a certain level of government.

The youth issues at national level are in jurisdiction of the Commission for Coordination of Youth Issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina and newly established Mobility and Youth Unit at the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Most of the constitutional competencies regarding youth issues are at the entities’ government level: Republika Srpska, and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The competencies at the entity level in the field of youth are within the Republika Srpska Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Culture and Sports and Department for Administrative and Professional Affairs of the Brčko District Government.

The Republika Srpska Law on Youth Organization, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Youth Law and the Brcko District Youth Law define the age limits for the youth as a target group between the age of 15 and 30.

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Youth Council, Republika Srpska Youth Council and Brčko District Youth Council are representational bodies that exist at entity and Brčko District levels acting as bridges between youth organizations and government decision-making institutions.

Institutions of representative democracy

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a decentralized parliamentary republic structured under the Dayton Peace Agreement. The system includes multiple levels of governance: state, entities, cantons (in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), and local administrative units. It is governed by a collegial Presidency consisting of one Croat, one Bosniak, and one Serb. It has a bicameral legislature consisting of the House of the Peoples and the House of Representatives. Together, these chambers form the Parliamentary Assembly. The Constitutional Court is the country’s highest judicial body.

The Executive

The Constitution includes a collegial three-person Presidency, consisting of one Bosniak, one Croat and one Serb, each of them serving for four years. The Bosniak and Croat members are directly elected from the territory of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina whilst the Serb member is elected from the territory of Republika Srpska. Members of the Presidency may be re-elected once and are then ineligible for four years. A Chair, who is selected by rotation or determined by the Parliamentary Assembly in case of no consensus, heads the Presidency. However, decisions in the Presidency are adopted by consensus, otherwise by a majority vote of the members. If the decision is seen to be “destructive of a vital interest” the dissenting member may appeal it within three days. A two-thirds majority of the legislature from the dissenting member’s respective territory is then allowed to nullify the decision. According to paragraph 3 of Article V, the Presidency is competent to conduct foreign policy; appoint ambassadors; negotiate, denounce and ratify treaties; execute parliamentary decisions, as well as propose an annual budget. In addition, the members of the Presidency are given “civilian command authority over armed forces”. However, neither of the entities is allowed to use force against another entity without the consent of the government of the latter and of the Presidency.

The Chair of the Council of Ministers, nominated by the Presidency, selects the other members of the Council with the approval of the House of Representatives. Not more than two-thirds of the members shall be appointed from the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Council’s task is to carry out “the policies and decisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. If a vote of no-confidence is passed by the Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of Ministers is required to resign.

Legislature

The Constitution provides for a bicameral parliament, comprising a lower chamber, the House of Representatives, and an upper chamber, the House of Peoples. It enjoys institutional autonomy and has a moderate amount of power over the executive. The legislature enacts legislation to implement decisions of the Presidency or to carry out its own duties under the Constitution. Its competencies include the power to amend the Constitution, approve international treaties and the annual budget, appoint members of the judiciary, grant amnesty, pardons and approve presidential declarations of war. Moreover, it is allowed to issue a vote of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers. The approval of both chambers is needed for all legislation. Like the decisions of the Presidency, an act can be annulled if a majority of the respective members of parliament declares it to be “destructive of a vital interest” of the people. A joint commission, or under specific circumstances the Constitutional Court, must resolve the dispute in case a majority of the members of parliament of another entity object to the declaration.

Judiciary

The Constitutional Court, a body of nine members, has original and final jurisdiction over all matters relating to the interpretation of the Constitution. Four members are elected by the House of Representatives of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, two members by the Assembly of Republika Srpska, and three members are designated by the President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after consultation with the Presidency. The ECHR may not select judges who are citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina or of any neighboring country. The first judges of the court were appointed for five years. Judges appointed thereafter, however, stay in the office until the age of 70. The Court is competent to hear appeals over issues under the Constitution arising out of judgments of any other court. In addition, any court in Bosnia and Herzegovina may ask the court to review the constitutionality of laws, on whose validity its decision depends, with the Constitution, with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols, or with the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Court is granted exclusive jurisdiction on disputes between entities or between the country and entities as well as on disputes between state’s institutions. The latter disputes may only be referred to the Court by certain officials or bodies.

Constitutional development

The Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitution is part of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Annex 4 of the Agreement) signed by the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in Paris on the 14th of December 1995. It is also known as the Paris Agreement or the Dayton Agreement, named after the cities, where it was signed. The Dayton Peace Agreement is a de facto series of agreements consisting of one framework agreement and twelve special agreements referred to as Annexes to the General Framework Peace Agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The special agreements, which were signed by different parties, relate to civilian (Annexes 2 through 11) and military components (Annexes 1-A and 1-B). Annex 4 contains the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, unlike other annexes, was not made in the form of an agreement. The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska all approved the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitution. Although the last sentence of Article XI states that the Agreement shall be signed in the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina (i.e. Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian) and English language, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitutional Charter was officially signed only in English. There are no official versions made in the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor have the relevant authorities translated this document, including the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitution, only un-official translations have been used. The Dayton Peace Agreement, including the Constitution, has never been published in the Official Gazettes of the State and/or entities.

The Republika Srpska Constitution was adopted on 28 February 1992 and published in the Republika Srpska Official Gazette. Since 1992, there have been more than 120 amendments to the Constitution. Article 1 of the Constitution states that Republika Srpska is territorially unified, indivisible, and an inalienable constitutional and legal entity that shall independently perform its constitutional, legislative, executive, and judicial functions. The Constitution created a centralized federal unit within the asymmetrical federal system in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Washington Agreement created Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1994. On 30 March 1994, the Constitutional Assembly of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted its Constitution, establishing the second of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unlike Republika Srpska, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is extremely decentralized, made up of ten cantons with broad constitutional powers and discrepancies in the areas of education, culture, health care, etc. The cantonal system was selected to prevent dominance by one ethnic group over the other. Since 1994, this Constitution has been amended at least one hundred times.

Brcko District Bosnia and Herzegovina was established in 2000 after an arbitration process undertaken by the High Representative, and is a neutral, self-governing administrative unit under the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitution, as well as all relevant decisions and laws regarding the Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions, are directly applicable throughout the territory of Brčko District. Brčko District also has its own Statute regulating the functions and powers of Brčko District, its cooperation with the entities, human rights and freedoms, organization of Brčko District, and division of powers, competencies and institutions, etc. The status of the district was secured with the adoption of the first Amendment to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitution in 2009.

Legal framework and electoral system

The elections are primarily regulated by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Election Law adopted in 2001. Amendments to the Law were adopted in April 2016, only six months prior to the elections, thus challenging the Central Election Commission about the implementation of the Law. The most important amendments adopted in 2016 included a gender quota of at least 40% of candidates from the underrepresented gender on candidates’ lists.

Regarding the electoral system, mayors are directly elected by a simple majority first-past-the-post system (plurality system). However, in Brčko District, East Sarajevo and the City of Sarajevo, mayors are indirectly elected by the respective Brčko District Assembly and city councils.

For municipal councils in all entities, the electoral system in use is the proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. There is a 3% threshold to participate in the process of allocation of seats. Mandates in municipal councils are then allocated to the candidates’ lists according to the Saint-Laguë method, which is a highest quotient method using successive quotients for each list. Mandates won by a list are then distributed among candidates on the list. Mandates should be first distributed among candidates who individually received at least 10% of the votes, from the candidate who received the highest number of votes to the candidates who received the lowest number. If some mandates are still to be allocated to the same list, they are distributed among candidates who received less than 10% of the votes, according to their rank order on the list. All municipal councils that form a city elect a city council through a proportional representation system.

Election administration bodies

The election administration is a three-level structure headed by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC). The election administration also includes Municipal Election Commissions (MECs) and Polling Station Commissions (PSCs). The CEC is composed of seven members appointed for a seven-year term, including two Croats, two Bosniaks, two Serbs and one representative of the “Others”.

Voter registration and lists

As of May 7, 2024, a total of 3,406,088 voters were registered in the Central Voters’ Register for the 2024 local elections, as determined by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK Bosnia and Herzegovina).

All Bosnia and Herzegovina citizens registered in the Central Voters’ Register have the right to vote in person in the municipality of their permanent residence. Voters residing abroad may register with the CIK to vote by mail or at diplomatic-consular missions and are also entitled to vote in person in Bosnia and Herzegovina on election day if they choose.

For voting abroad, citizens must actively register (or confirm previous registration) via the CIK's online portal or forms, with deadlines set after elections are called (e.g., until mid-July for the 2024 cycle). Polling stations are organized in selected Bosnia and Herzegovina diplomatic representations for registered absentee voters; the exact number varies by election but typically serves tens of thousands.

The voter register is maintained passively for residents (based on civil records) and actively for absentee voting. Ongoing concerns about accuracy persist due to outdated records, emigration, and deceased voters, though reforms in 2024 introduced pilot technologies for greater transparency, planned for full rollout in future elections including the 2026 general elections.