the Dayton Peace Accords, signed on 14 December 1995 in Paris, included a constitution; note - each of the entities also has its own constitution
Legal system:
based on civil law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age, 16 if employed; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: Chairman of the Presidency Nebojsa RADMANOVIC (chairman of the presidency since 10 November 2010; presidency member since 1 October 2006 - Serb); other members of the three-member presidency rotate every eight months: Bakir IZETBEGOVIC (presidency member since 3 October 2010 - Bosniak); Zeljko KOMSIC (presidency member since 1 October 2006 - Croat)
head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikola SPIRIC (since 11 January 2007)
cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the council chairman; approved by the state-level House of Representatives (For more information visit the World Leaders website ) elections: the three members of the presidency (one Bosniak, one Croat, one Serb) elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term, but then ineligible for four years); the chairmanship rotates every eight months and resumes where it left off following each general election; election last held on 3 October 2010 (next to be held in October 2014); the chairman of the Council of Ministers appointed by the presidency and confirmed by the state-level House of Representatives
election results: percent of vote - Nebojsa RADMANOVIC with 48.9% of the votes for the Serb seat; Zeljko KOMSIC with 60.6% of the votes for the Croat seat; Bakir IZETBEGOVIC with 34.9% of the votes for the Bosniak seat
note: President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Borjana KRISTO (since 21 February 2007); Vice Presidents Spomenka MICIC (since 21 February 2007) and Mirsad KEBO (since 21 February 2007); President of the Republika Srpska: Milorad DODIK (since 3 October 2010); took office 15 November 2010
Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliamentary Assembly or Skupstina consists of 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 Peoples and the Republika Srpska's National Assembly to serve four-year terms); and the state-level House of Representatives or Predstavnicki Dom (42 seats, 28 seats allocated for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 14 seats for the Republika Srpska; members elected by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation 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: House of Peoples - last constituted in February 2007 (next to be constituted in 2011); state-level House of Representatives - elections last held on 3 October 2010 (next to be held in October 2014)
election results: House of Peoples - percent of vote by party/coalition - NA; seats by party/coalition - NA; state-level House of Representatives - percent of vote by party/coalition - NA; seats by party/coalition - SDP BiH 8, SDA 7, SNSD 7, SDS 5, SBBBiH 4, HDZ-BiH 3, SBiH 2, HDZ-1990/HSP 2, other 4
note: the Bosniak/Croat Federation has a bicameral legislature that consists of a House of Peoples (58 seats - 17 Bosniak, 17 Croat, 17 Serb, 7 other); last constituted February 2007; and a House of Representatives (98 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms); elections last held on 3 October 2010 (next to be held in October 2014); percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party/coalition - SDP 28, SDA 23, SBBBiH 13, HDZ-BiH 12, HDZ-1990/HSP 5, other 17; the Republika Srpska has a National Assembly (83 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms); elections last held on 3 October 2010 (next to be held in October 2014); percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party/coalition - SNSD 37, SDS 18, PDP 7, DNS 6, SP 4, DP 3, SDP 3, SDA 2, NDS 2 SRS-RS 1; 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 8 Croats, 8 Bosniaks, 8 Serbs, and 4 members of the smaller communities
Judicial branch:
BiH 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); BiH State Court (consists of 44 national judges and seven international judges and has three divisions - Administrative, Appellate and Criminal - having jurisdiction over cases related to state-level law and cases initiated in the entities that question BiH's sovereignty, political independence, or national security or with economic crimes that have serious repercussions to BiH's economy, beyond that of an entity or Brcko District); 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 district courts and a number of municipal courts
Political parties and leaders:
Alliance for a Better Future of BiH or SBB-BiH [ Fahrudin RADONCIC];
Alliance of Independent Social Democrats or SNSD [Milorad DODIK];
Bosnian Party or BOSS [Mirnes AJANOVIC]; Bosnian Patriotic Party or
BPS [Sefer HALILOVIC]; Civic Democratic Party or GDS [Ibrahim
SPAHIC]; Croat Party of Rights or HSP [Zvonko JURISIC]; Croat
Peasants' Party-New Croat Initiative or HSS-NHI [Ante COLAK];
Croatian Christian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or
HKDU [Ivan MUSA]; Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and
Herzegovina or HDZ-BiH [Dragan COVIC]; Croatian Democratic Union
1990 or HDZ-1990 [Bozo LJUBIC]; Croatian Peoples Union [Milenko
BRKIC]; Democratic National Union or DNZ [Rifat DOLIC]; Democratic
Party or DP [Dragan CAVIC]; Democratic Peoples' Alliance or DNS
[Marko PAVIC]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDS [Rasim KADIC]; Nasa
Stranka or NS [NA; leadership elections late 2010/early 2011]; New
Socialist Party or NSP [Zdravko KRSMANOVIC]; Party for Bosnia and
Herzegovina or SBiH [Haris SILAJDZIC]; Party of Democratic Action or
SDA [Sulejman TIHIC]; Party of Democratic Progress or PDP [Mladen
IVANIC]; Peoples' Party of Work for Progress or NSRzB [Mladen
IVANKOVIC-LIJANOVIC]; Serb Democratic Party or SDS [Mladen BOSIC];
Serb Radical Party of the Republika Srpska or SRS-RS [Milanko
MIHAJLICA]; Serb Radical Party-Dr. Vojislav Seselj or SRS-VS [Mirko
BLAGOJEVIC]; Social Democratic Party of BiH or SDP BiH [Zlatko
LAGUMDZIJA]; Social Democratic Union or SDU [Nermin PECANAC];
Socialist Party of Republika Srpska or SPRS [Petar DJOKIC]
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