At stake in this election:   

• The 42 seats in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s National House of Representatives (Predstavnicki Dom)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Chairman of the Presidency Bakir IZETBEGOVIC (since 10 March 2014; Bosnian)*
• Head of Government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers Vjekoslav BEVANDA (since 12 January 2012)
• Assembly: Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral Parliamentary Assembly (Skupstina) consisting of the House of Peoples (Dom Naroda) with 15 seats and the National House of Representatives (Predstavnicki Dom) with 42 seats.

* Bosnia has a three-member (one Bosnian, one Croatian, and one Serbian) rotating presidency that changes every 8 months. The other members are: Zeljko KOMSIC (since 6 November 2010; Croatian) and Nebojsa RADMANOVIC (since 6 November 2006; Serbian). Each member is separately elected by plurality vote. This is done via separate lists, with each voter in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina choosing either a Bosnian or Croatian candidate and those in the Republika Srpska electing a Serbian candidate.

Description of electoral system:

• The Chairman of the Presidency is elected by plurality vote to serve a 4-year term. All members of the presidency serve 4 year terms.
• Chairman of the Council of Ministers is appointed by the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the approval of the parliament.
• In the In the House of Peoples (Dom Naroda) 15 members are indirectly elected by parliament to serve 4-year terms.*
• In the National House of Representatives (Predstavnicki Dom) 42 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.**

* The seats are made up of 5 Bosnians, 5 Croats, and 5 Serbs. Members are elected by the Bosniak/Croat Federation s House of Representatives and the Republika Srpska s National Assembly.

** 28 seats are allocated from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and 14 seats from the Republika Srpska (RS). In the FBiH, 21 of the 28 deputies are elected in five multi-member constituencies. The remaining seven are elected from political party compensatory lists. In the RS, 9 of the 14 deputies are elected in three multi-member constituencies, with the remaining five elected from political party compensatory lists. There is a 3 percent threshold for entering parliament. Bosnia and Herzegovina utilizes a "zipper" style gender quota, which means that members of the "minority gender" must be equally spaced out in the party list. Parties must allocate approximately one-third of their seats to the "minority gender." Pure Seats are allocated using the pure Sainte-Lague method.

Election Note:

On Sunday 12 October 2014, Bosnia and Herzegovina will hold elections for the House of Representatives.[i]

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Democratic Action Party / Stranka Demokratske Akcije (SDA)
  • Leader: Sulejman TIHIC
  • Seats won in last National House of Representatives election: 7
• Party: Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina / Socijaldemokratska Partija Bosne i Hercegovine (SDP)
  • Leader: Zlatko LAGUMDZIJA
  • Seats won in last National House of Representatives election: 8
• Party: Alliance of Independent Social Democrats / Savez nezavisnih socijaldemokrata (SNSD)
  • Leader: Milorad DODIK
  • Seats won in last National House of Representatives election: 8
• Party: Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina / Stranka za Bosnu i Hercegovinu (SBiH)
  • Leader: Amer JERLAGIC
  • Seats won in last National House of Representatives election: 2
• Party: Serbian Democratic Party / Srpska Demokratska Stranka (SDS)
  • Leader: Mladen BOSIC
  • Seats won in last National House of Representatives election: 4
• Party: Croatian Democratic Community of Bosnia-Herzegovina / Hrvatska demokratska zajednica Bosne i Hercegovine (HDZ-BH)
  • Leader: Dragan COVIC
  • Seats won in last National House of Representatives election: 3
• Party: Party of Democratic Progress / Partija demokratskog progresa (PDP)
  • Leader: Mladen IVANIC
  • Seats won in last National House of Representatives election: 1
• Party: Croatian Democratic Union 1990 / Hrvatska demokratska zajednica 1990 (HDZ 1990)
  • Leader: Bozo LJUBIC
  • Seats won in last National House of Representatives election: 1

Last election:

• The last election to the House of Representatives (Predstavnicki Dom) in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held on 3 October 2010.[ii] Turnout was 52 percent and 1,769,247 of 3,129,599 people casted ballots.[iii] The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP BiH) won 8 seats or 26.07 percent of the vote, while the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) won 7 seats or 19.40 percent of the vote.[iv] Results can be found here.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 3,871,643 (July 2014 est)[v]
• Registered Voters: 3,129,599 (2010)[vi

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 1,984,932 (July 2014 est)[i]
• Is Bosnia and Herzegovina a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (the former Yugoslavia signed the treaty in July 1980)[ii]
• Has Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified CEDAW: Yes (1 September 1993)[iii]
• Gender Quota:  Yes: “Legislated Candidates Quotas” for the House of Representatives[iv]
• Female Candidates in this election: N/A
• Number of Female Legislators: 7 (17%) of 42 seats in the House of Representatives[v]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 86[vi]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Ranking: 24^th out of 86 non-OECD countries (latest rankings are from 2012)[vii]