While the Central Election Commission (CIK) in Bosnia counted and verified results from its October polls, the commission also had to contend with fixing a flaw in its election law which will enable the formation of a new government and prevent looming financial collapse in the country.

According to the Balkan Insight, the old law was missing the part that defines the election of the Federation entity’s House of Peoples, which the state Constitutional Court erased 18 months ago after the state parliament failed to amend the law. Without mending the law, no new parliament and government could be elected in the larger of Bosnia’s two entities and if it was not fixed, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina risked financial and administrative collapse.

Following heavy pressure locally and internationally, Bosnia’s Central Election Commission eventually adopted a decision which will fix the country’s dysfunctional election law and enable the establishment of a new government in the country, which it has lacked since last October’s elections.

“The CIK adopted the decision by a 5-2 vote, as the two Serbs, two Croats and one ‘other’ ethnic delegate on the CIK outvoted its two Bosniak representatives.

The decision becomes effective after it is published in the Official Gazette, but this will probably be postponed since several Bosniak parties and officials have already condemned the ruling as unconstitutional and have announced they will appeal against it at Bosnia’s Constitutional Court,” reports the Balkan Insight.

The electoral commission reached this decision after month’s of negotiations and deliberations with various stakeholders. However, there are signs that the Bosniak parties in the country will stand against this. “Popov Momcinovic said that the CIK’s decision was not acceptable to most Bosniak parties and politicians, including the leading Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the leftist Social Democratic Party, SDP.”

Weighing in on the matter, the American embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina has asked aggrieved parties to aim to settle their qualms legally, without holding the government formation process hostage.