The Office of the High Representative expresses its disappointment in the failure of the Mostar City Council to elect the mayor in the third round of voting last night. The Statute of the City of Mostar provides ample opportunity for the political parties to reach agreement through three rounds of voting, which the parties have failed to do even after more than four months. Thanks to their persistent failure, there is also no decision on temporary financing, which means all payments in the City are blocked, which in turn means the citizens of Mostar are suffering: public employees do not receive salaries, city institutions are not funded, and children are sitting in unheated schools because the fuel bills are not paid.
It is particularly regrettable, and perhaps indicative of the source of the problems, that four councilors from a single party decided to avoid their responsibilities by not attending yesterday’s session. All who were elected by the citizens of Mostar are expected to fulfill their minimum obligations to attend City Council sessions.
As the final round of voting did not produce any positive result, the City Council must now repeat the mayoral election procedure, beginning with the nomination of candidates. The OHR expects the procedure to resume by next week, and urges the political parties this time to put the citizens’ interests ahead of their own.