European Court of Human Rights

Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 176

Zornić v. Bosnia and Herzegovina - 3681/06

Judgment 15.7.2014 [Section IV] See: [2014] ECHR 773

Article 46

Article 46-2

Execution of judgment

Measures of a general character

Respondent State required to establish without delay political system in which all citizens have the right to stand for elections without discrimination

Article 14

Discrimination

Ineligibility to stand for election without declaration of affiliation to one of constitutionally defined “constituent peoples”: violation

Article 1 of Protocol No. 12

General prohibition of discrimination

Ineligibility to stand for election without declaration of affiliation to one of constitutionally defined “constituent peoples”: violations

Facts – Under the Bosnian Constitution, only persons declaring affiliation with a “constituent people” – defined by the Constitution as Bosniacs, Croats or Serbs – have the right to stand for election to the State Parliament (House of Peoples) and the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The applicant, an active participant in the political life of the country, does not wish to declare affiliation with any of the “constituent peoples” as she considers herself a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is thus ineligible to stand for election to either office.

Law – Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1, and Article 1 of Protocol No. 12: In the earlier case of Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina* the Court had found the constitutional provisions discriminatory in that they excluded person of Roma or Jewish origin from standing for election. In the present case the applicant had been excluded from standing for election because of her decision not to declare affiliation with any of the “constituent people” as defined by the Constitution. Irrespective of the reasons for her decision, for the reasons set out in Sejdić and Finci there had been a breach of her Convention rights.

Conclusions: violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 (six votes to one); violations of Article 1 of Protocol No. 12 (unanimously).

Article 46: The finding of a violation in the present case was a direct result of the authorities’ failure to introduce measures to ensure compliance with the judgment given by the Grand Chamber in Sejdić and Finci. The failure of the respondent State to introduce constitutional and legislative proposals to put an end to the current incompatibility of the Constitution and the electoral law with the Convention was an aggravating factor as regards the State’s responsibility under the Convention for the existing state of affairs as well as a threat to the future effectiveness of the Convention machinery. The execution of the Sejdić and Finci judgment was still under the supervision of the Committee of Ministers, which had regularly examined domestic developments and called for a speedy end to the existing situation of non-compliance. Despite three interim resolutions adopted by the Committee of Ministers urging the national authorities to take all necessary steps with a view to full execution of the Sejdić and Finci judgment, the respondent State had not yet changed the legislation. The Court encouraged the speedy and effective resolution of the situation in a Convention-compliant manner. Eighteen years after the end of the tragic conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina time had come for a political system which would provide every citizen of that country with the right to stand for elections to the Presidency and the House of Peoples without discrimination based on ethnic affiliation.

*  Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina [GC], 27996/06 and 34836/06, 22 December 2009, Information Note 125.

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