Government & politics — Bosnia and Herzegovina

the larger northern territory is named for the Bosna River; the smaller southern section takes its name from the German word "herzog," meaning "duke," and the ending "-ovina," meaning "land," forming the combination denoting "dukedom"

• 1 March 1992 (from Yugoslavia)
• note - referendum for independence completed on 1 March 1992
• independence declared on 3 March 1992

Independence Day, 1 March (1992) and Statehood Day, 25 November (1943) - both observed in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity; Victory Day, 9 May (1945) and Dayton Agreement Day, 21 November (1995) - both observed in the Republika Srpska entity note: there is no national-level holiday

• history: 14 December 1995 (constitution included as part of the Dayton Peace Accords); note - each
• of the political entities has its own constitution amendments: decided by the Parliamentary Assembly, including a two-thirds majority vote of members present in the House of Representatives; the constitutional article on human rights and fundamental freedoms cannot be amended; amended several times, last in 2009

• chief of state: Chairperson of the Presidency Zeljko KOMSIC (chairperson since 16 July 2025; presidency member since 20 November 2018 - Croat seat); Denis BECIROVIC (presidency member since 16 November 2022 - Bosniak seat); Zeljka CVIJANOVIC (presidency
• member since 16 November 2022 - Serb seat) head of government: Chairperson of the Counci
• l of Ministers Borjana KRISTO (since 25 January 2023) cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the council chairperson, approved by the stat
• e-level House of Representatives election/appointment process: 3-member presidency (1 Bosniak and 1 Croat elected from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 1 Serb elected from the Republika Srpska) directly elected by simple-majority popular vote for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term but then ineligible for 4 years); the presidency chairpersonship rotates every 8 months, with the new member of the presidency elected with the highest number of votes starting the new mandate as chair; the chairperson of the Council of Ministers appointed by the presidency and confirmed by the s
• tate-level House of Representatives most recent election date: 2
• October 2022 election results: 2022: percent of vote - Denis BECIROVIC - (SDP BiH) 57.4% - Bosniak seat; Zeljko KOMSIC (DF) 55.8% - Croat seat; Zeljka CVIJANOVIC (SNSD) 51.7% -
• Serb seat 2018: percent of vote - Milorad DODIK (SNSD) 53.9% - Serb seat; Zeljko KOMSIC (DF) 52.6% - Croat seat; Sefik DZAFEROVIC (SDA) 36.6% -
• October 2026 note: President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Lidiia BRADARA (since 28 February 2023)

Description

bicameral Parliamentary Assembly or Skupstina consists of: House of Peoples or Dom Naroda (15 seats - 5 Bosniak, 5 Croat, 5 Serb; members designated by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's House of Peoples and the Republika Srpska's National Assembly serve 4-year terms) House of Representatives or Predstavnicki Dom (42 seats to include 28 seats allocated to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 14 to the Republika Srpska; members directly elected by proportional representation vote to serve 4-year terms);

Note

• the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature that consists of the House of Peoples (80 seats - 23 Bosniak, 23 Croat, 23 Serb, 11 other) and the House of Representatives (98 seats
• members directly elected by proportional representation vote to serve 4-year terms)
• Republika Srpska's unicameral legislature is the National Assembly or Narodna skupština Republike Srpske (83 directly elected delegates serve 4-year terms)

Elections

House of Peoples - last held on 2 October 2022 (next to be held in 2026) House of Representatives - last held on 2 October 2022 (next to be held in 2026)

Election Results

• House of Peoples - percent of vote by party/coalition - NA
• seats by party/coalition - NA
• composition as of January 2024 - men 13, women 2, percent of women 13.3% House of Representatives - percent of vote by party/coalition - SDA 17.2%, SNSD 16.3%, HDZ BiH 8.8%, SDP 8.2%, SDS 7.1%, DF-GS 6.4%, NiP 5%, PDP 4.6%, NS/HC 3.1%, NES 3%, For Justice and Order 2.1%, DEMOS 1.9%, US 1.6%, BHI KF 1.3%, other 13.4%
• seats by party/coalition - SDA 9, SNSD 6, SDP 5, HDZ BiH 4, DF-GS 3, NiP 3, SDS 2, PDP 2, NS/HC 2, NES 2, For Justice and Order 1, DEMOS 1, US 1, BHI KF 1
• composition as of January 2024 - men 34, women 8, percent of women 19.1%;

Note

total Parliamentary Assembly percent of women 17.5%

• highest court(s): Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Constitutional Court (consists of 9 members); Court of BiH (consists of 44 national judges and 7 international judges organized into 3 divisions - Administrative, Appellate, and Criminal, which incl
• udes a War Crimes Chamber) judge selection and term of office: BiH Constitutional Court judges - 4 selected by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina House of Representatives, 2 selected by the Republika Srpska's National Assembly, and 3 non-Bosnian judges selected by the president of the European Court of Human Rights; Court of BiH president and national judges appointed by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council; Court of BiH president appointed for renewable 6-year term; other national judges appointed to serve until age 70; international judges recommended by the president of the Court of BiH and appointed by the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina; internatio
• nal judges appointed to serve until age 70 subordinate courts: the Federation has 10 cantonal courts plus a number of municipal courts; the Republika Srpska has a supreme court, 5 district courts, and a number of municipal courts

3 first-order administrative divisions Brcko District (Brcko Distrikt) (ethnically mixed), Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine) (predominantly Bosniak-Croat), Republika Srpska (predominantly Serb)

• Alliance of Independent Social Democrats or SNSD [Milorad DODIK]
• Bosnian-Herzegovinian Initiative or BHI KF [Fuad KASUMOVIC]
• Civic Alliance or GS [Reuf BAJROVIC]
• Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or HDZ-BiH [Dragan COVIC]
• Democratic Front or DF [Zeljko KOMSIC]
• Democratic Union or DEMOS [Nedeljko CUBRILOVIC]
• For Justice and Order [Nebojsa VUKANOVIC]
• Our Party or NS/HC [Edin FORTO]
• Party for Democratic Action or SDA [Bakir IZETBEGOVIC]
• Party of Democratic Progress or PDP [Branislav BORENOVIC]
• People and Justice Party or NiP [Elmedin KONAKOVIC]
• People's European Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina or NES [Nermin OGRESEVIC]
• Serb Democratic Party or SDS [Milan MILICEVIC]
• Social Democratic Party or SDP [Nermin NIKSIC]
• United Srpska or US [Nenad STEVANDIC]

• no citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a
• citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina dual citizenship recognized: yes, provided there is a bilateral agreement
• with the other state residency requirement for naturalization: 8 years

BIS, CD, CE, CEI, EAPC, EBRD, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (NGOs), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MONUSCO, NAM (observer), OAS (observer), OIC (observer), OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PFP, SELEC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer) note: Bosnia-Herzegovina is an EU candidate country whose satisfactory completion of accession criteria is required before being granted full EU membership

chief of mission

Ambassador Michael J. MURPHY (since 23 February 2022) embassy: 1 Robert C. Frasure Street, 71000 Sarajevo mailing address: 7130 Sarajevo Place, Washington DC 20521-7130

telephone

[387] (33) 704-000

FAX

[387] (33) 659-722

Email address and website

• sarajevoACS@state.gov
• https://ba.usembassy.gov/

chief of mission

Ambassador Sven ALKALAJ (since 30 June 2023)

chancery

2109 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20037

telephone

[1] (202) 337-1500

FAX

[1] (202) 337-1502

Email address and website

• info@bhembassy.org
• http://www.bhembassy.org/index.html

consulate(s) general

Chicago, New York