Creating legitimacy and integrating diversity by

empowering citizensThe challenge of election law design for

Democracy and Democracy buildingWorkshop “A reform of the electoral system: from party

vote to personal vote” in the Parliament of BiH

Sarajevo, 26th of February 2010,

by Andreas Gross,

political scientist / MP and social-democratic group leader in the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe www.andigross.ch info@andigross.ch

National Integration and overcoming ethnical divisions is

what BiH needs most (One of Europe’s biggest challenges)

Designing an electoral law has to contribute to this national priority - it‘s one of the biggest opportunities to contribute to this !

Designing a democratic election law means facing

several paradoxes :

• You want to unite the citizens, but you have to

organise their divisions;• You want common understanding, but you organise

competition;• You want to create legitimacy, but you provoke tensions;• You want to create new identities but you help old ones;• You want to integrate, but you divide

There are keys, how to overcome these paradoxes in

order to integrate a diverse society even by elections :

Take and focus on individual citizens when you design the electoral law and not parties, ethnical groups or other static collectives!

Political institutions and procedures should be designed in a way, which

make human being’s act in the common interest:

- Respect diversity, but help integrate it by avoiding divisions;

- Motivate citizens to act, to participate and to learn;

- Give equal chances to all and every one

- Guarantee fairness in politics

Integration is a political challenge: Citizens need to act

themselves together - they need to use their freedom !

For Hannah Arendt pluralism is the base of politics. Freedom the sense of it. Pluralism does no mean division; freedom you don’t have but you might find it by acting together with others...

Integration through citizen’s participation:

citizens based elections and addition of direct democratic

elements to representative democracy

By acting together in order to influence their common existence citizens begin to identify with the whole society - by participating actively you begin to see yourself as part of the whole.

Citizens based elections have a double sense:

Strengthen the citizen as candidate and as voter

As candidate: - No big obstacles to form parties or electoral list

- No minimum requirements to enter Parliament

As voter:

- you have as many votes as seats in your constituency - you might give two of them to one candidate and

to candidates from different parties/lists (Open lists)

Possible ways to democratize BiH’s Democracy:

Overcome ethnically based constituencies

(Reorganise constituencies in 10 seats c. each)

Restructure balance and competences within the Federation

(- More power for the Federation,

- entity competence in entity issues only

- increase the presence of the entities on federal level by a two-chamber National Parliament,

- integrate federal society by national referenda)

In order to be able to act together with others you have to trust/ have confidence in others

and yourself

Alone you may become rich - politically you despair alone. In order to be able to act, you need the others.

Individualism should not be confused with egoism or the atomisation of society.

The more all citizens feel respect, trust and the more they act

together, the more they feel to belong together

An integrated society is able to develop a common sense of a common belonging !

This might be it’s utopian goal - perhaps never to be achieved totally, but always have to be tried to be approached.

A common collective identity you build (No heritage only !) by acting individually for a common project:

A collective Identity is more than a heritage - passively you loose it, by acting together you build up one ! By acting together there comes together what belongs together (All Macedonians of all parts).