Jews can't run for President in Bosnia...
Of course, the tougher thing would be winning...
Jakob Finci, the leader of Sarajevo's small Jewish community, has asked the European Court of Human Rights to lift the prohibition on Jews and other minorities running for the Bosnian presidency.
Under the country's post-war constitution, only Bosnian Serbs and Croats, who are overwhelmingly Catholic and Christian Orthodox, respectively, and Bosniaks, who are Muslim, are allowed to run for presidency. Bosnia has three presidents, each representing one of Bosnia's principal constituent groups.
"We understand that Mr. Finci wants the equal right to vote and be voted for, but unfortunately this is not the case," Bosnia's ambassador to Israel, Nedeljko Maslesa, told The Jerusalem Post on Friday. "The Bosnian government is aware of the case, but has no official position on it."
The Minority Rights Group International in London and Sheri Rosenberg, director of the program in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cordozo Law school in New York, are supporting Finci's application.
"As far as [we] are aware, there is no other case in Europe where Jews are actually prevented from contesting the presidency" an official from the Minority Rights Group said in a statement. "Ironically, the Bosnian constitution is a modern day creation, but de facto reinforces centuries-old discrimination." There are about 500 Jews living in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
posted by GayandRight @ 1:12 AM
2 Comments:
If Jews are allowed to run for President in Bosnia then when am I to be given a voice on immigration to Canada?
(real conservative)
While the Dayton peace accord only allows Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats to run for President, it has nothing to do with somebody being Jewish. The agreement is a really messed up document that helped end the war, but is not a very good way to actually run a country... The reason for the three memeber Presidentship is so that the parties that were once in war against each-other would all have a say in what happens to the country. I agree with you that it makes no sense in not having a Jew, a Slovenian or even a Gypsy as a candidate, just as much as it makes no sense in having three presidents. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that this will change for a while; not because the people of Bosnia don't want it to change, but because certain parties in power are sticking to the Dayton Agreement, and wouldn't change the Constitution. Until such time comes, I don't think we will be seeing a Jewish President.
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