National holiday:
National Day, 25 November (1943)
Constitution:
the Dayton Agreement, signed 14 December 1995, included a new
constitution now in force; note - each of the entities also has its
own constitution
Legal system:
based on civil law system
Suffrage:
18 years of age, universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: Chairman of the Presidency Nebojsa RADMANOVIC
(chairman since 6 November 2006; presidency member since 1 October
2006 - Serb); other members of the three-member presidency rotating
(every eight months): Zeljko KOMSIC (since 1 October 2006 - Croat)
and Haris SILAJDZIC (since 1 October 2006 - Bosniak)
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
elections: the three members of the presidency (one Bosniak, one
Croat, one Serb) are elected by popular vote for a four-year term
(eligible for a second term, but then ineligible for four years);
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 1
October 2006 (next to be held in 2010); the chairman of the Council
of Ministers is appointed by the presidency and confirmed by the
National House of Representatives
election results: percent of vote - Nebojsa RADMANOVIC with 53.3% of
the Serb vote; Zeljko KOMSIC received 39.6% of the Croat vote; Haris
SILAJDZIC received 62.8% of the Bosniak vote
note: President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Niko
LOZANCIC (since 27 January 2003); Vice Presidents Sahbaz DZIHANOVIC
(since in 2003) and Desnica RADIVOJEVIC (since in 2003); President
of the Republika Srpska: Milan JELIC (since 9 November 2006)
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
elections: national House of Representatives - elections last held 1
October 2006 (next to be held in 2010); House of Peoples - last
constituted in January 2003 (next to be constituted in 2007)
election results: national House of Representatives - percent of
vote by party/coalition - NA%; seats by party/coalition - SDA 9,
SBiH 8, SNSD 7, SDP 5, SDS 3, HDZ-BH 3, other 7; House of Peoples -
percent of vote by party/coalition - NA; seats by party/coalition -
NA
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 1
October 2006 (next to be held in October 2010); percent of vote by
party - NA; seats by party/coalition - SDA 28, SBiH 24, SDP 17,
HDZ-BH 8, HDZ100 7, other 14; 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 1 October 2006
(next to be held in the fall of 2010); percent of vote by party -
NA; seats by party/coalition - SNSD 41, SDS 17, PDP 8, DNS 4, SBH 4,
SPRS 3, SDA 3, other 3; 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
including eight Croats, eight Bosniaks, eight Serbs, and four
members of the smaller communities
Judicial branch:
BH Constitutional Court (consists of nine members: four members are
selected by the Bosniak/Croat Federation's House of Representatives,
two members by the Republika Srpska's National Assembly, and three
non-Bosnian members by the president of the European Court of Human
Rights); BH State Court (consists of nine judges and three divisions
- Administrative, Appellate and Criminal - having jurisdiction over
cases related to state-level law and appellate jurisdiction over
cases initiated in the entities); note - a War Crimes Chamber opened
in March 2005
note: the entities each have a Supreme Court; each entity also has a
number of lower courts; there are 10 cantonal courts in the
Federation, plus a number of municipal courts; the Republika Srpska
has five municipal courts
Political parties and leaders:
Alliance of Independent Social Democrats or SNSD [Milorad DODIK];
Bosnian Party or BOSS [Mirnes AJANOVIC]; Civic Democratic Party or
GDS [Ibrahim SPAHIC]; Croat Christian Democratic Union of Bosnia and
Herzegovina or HKDU [Marin TOPIC]; Croat Party of Rights or HSP
[Zvonko JURISIC]; Croat Peasants Party or HSS [Marko TADIC];
Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HDZ-BH
[Dragan COVIC]; Croatian Democratic Union 100 or HDZ100; Croatian
Peoples Union [Milenko BRKIC]; Democratic National Union or DNZ
[Rifet DOLIC]; Democratic Peoples Alliance or DNS [Marko PAVIC];
Liberal Democratic Party or LDS [Rasim KADIC]; New Croat Initiative
or NHI [Kresimir ZUBAK]; Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina or SBiH
[Haris SILAJDZIC]; Party for Democratic Action or SDA [Sulejman
TIHIC]; Party of Democratic Progress or PDP [Mladen IVANIC]; Serb
Democratic Party or SDS [Dragan CAVIC]; Serb Radical Party of the
Republika Srpska or SRS-RS [Milanko MIHAJLICA]; Serb Radical
Party-Dr. Vojislav Seselj or SRS-VS [Radislav KANJERIC]; Social
Democratic Party of BIH or SDP [Zlatko LAGUMDZIJA]; Social
Democratic Union or SDU [Sejfudin TOKIC]; Socialist Party of
Republika Srpska or SPRS [Petar DJOKIC]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
NA
International organization participation:
BIS, CE, CEI, EBRD, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM,
IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO,
ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM (guest), OAS (observer), OIC (observer), OPCW,
OSCE, SECI, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WToO, WTO (observer)