How a law passes.
Most explanations of Bosnia's parliament stop at 'it is complicated'. It is not complicated, it is specific: two counting rules and one veto, applied in order. Run a bill through them.
The simulator
- Proposal
- House of Representatives
- House of Peoples
- Vital national interest
- Constitutional Court
- Law
1. Someone proposes a law
A member of either house, the Presidency or the Council of Ministers tables a bill. State competences are narrow (foreign policy, trade, customs, monetary policy, immigration, criminal law enforcement between entities, communications, air traffic), so most bills touch something an entity guards.
Simplified for teaching. It omits urgent procedure, the Council of Ministers' own consensus rule, and the House of Peoples' entity-voting count (delegates also vote by entity).
The three rules, in plain words
A majority is not enough
In both houses, the majority should include at least one-third of the members from each entity. If it does not, the leadership has three days to build one. If two-thirds of one entity's members still vote against, the bill fails. This is the "entity veto".
Any people can stop the clock
In the House of Peoples, a majority of the Bosniak, Croat or Serb delegates can declare a bill destructive of their people's vital interest. The bill then needs a majority of each caucus. Failing that, a three-member joint commission has five days to find a solution.
Nine judges, no rewriting
If the commission fails, the Constitutional Court rules on whether the vital-interest claim is procedurally valid and substantively founded. Five of nine judges decide. The Court does not amend the bill; it only says whether the objection stands.
Seat numbers: 42 (28 from the Federation, 14 from Republika Srpska) and 15 (5 per constituent people). Thresholds computed as in the text of Article IV(3)(d): one-third of each entity's members, two-thirds dissent of one entity's members.