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Members of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s election administration, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased and honored to be able to address this meeting in my last public event as Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. This only seems fitting somehow. The OSCE is probably still known in this country mainly for its role in elections, and the establishment of an election administration system is surely one of its most important achievements.
When I arrived to begin my assignment as Head of this particular OSCE Mission four years ago, it was barely a month before local elections were to take place. At that time, by virtue of my job, I was a member of the Election Commission. I contributed very little to the success of those local elections, but I learned much from working with talented, intelligent, and experienced people like Vehid Sehic and Lidija Korac and Suad Arnautovic and Branko Peric who did so much to make them technically a success.
My greatest contribution to elections here, I think it’s safe to say, was actually to cease being a member of what has since become the Central Elections Commission. Now, properly, this is a fully national body. Now, properly, too, ODIHR, the OSCE institution in charge monitoring elections, has decided that Bosnia and Herzegovina has progressed sufficiently in electoral matters that it deserves the same treatment as any other well established democracy. It has therefore decided not to deploy a standard election observation mission to monitor next month’s local elections, but only to send a reduced Election Support Team instead. This is a sign of the maturing of your democracy.
But elections, however important in their own right, are not in and of themselves sufficient to ensure the continued health of even a fully mature democracy. Aware of this, in November 1990, the Heads of State and Government of the participating States of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe met in Paris and signed a document called “The Charter of Paris for a New Europe.” (Among the signatories was Borisav Jovic, the President of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.) The opening paragraphs of that document stated this:
“Democratic government is based on the will of the people, expressed regularly through free and fair elections. Democracy has as its foundation respect for the human person and the rule of law. Democracy is the best safeguard of freedom of expression, tolerance of all groups of society, and equality of opportunity for each person. Democracy, with its representative and pluralist character, entails accountability to the electorate, the obligation of public authorities to comply with the law and justice administered impartially. No one will be above the law.”
Some of the other elements necessary to a proper democracy find their expression in a CSCE document agreed, in the summer of the year before the Charter of Paris was signed, at a meeting in Copenhagen. That document said, among many other things, this:
“The representatives of the participating States…reaffirm that democracy is an inherent element of the rule of law. They recognize the importance of pluralism with regard to political organizations….They solemnly declare that among those elements of justice which are essential to the full expression of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all human beings are the following:
free elections that will be held at reasonable intervals by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedure, under conditions which ensure in practice the free expression of the opinion of the electors in the choice of their representatives;
a form of government that is representative in character, in which the executive is accountable to the elected legislature or the electorate;
the duty of the government and public authorities to comply with the constitution and to act in a manner consistent with law;
a clear separation between the State and political parties; in particular, political parties will not be merged with the State;
the activity of the government and the administration as well as that of the judiciary will be exercised in accordance with the system established by law. Respect for that system must be ensured;
human rights and fundamental freedoms will be guaranteed by law and in accordance with their obligations under international law;
all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law will prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground;…”
These are, of course, aspirations, the expressions of an ideal. But my final wish is that Bosnia and Herzegovina, just as it has learned the principles of procuring free and fair and genuine elections for itself, might soon – through the vision and the commitment of the people elected to public office in this country – begin to make these ideals real as well. Why, it might then even become a civic state one day.
Thank you.
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