Golden lily; national colors: blue, yellow, white.
Title | "Drzavna himna Bosne i Hercegovine" (The National Anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina) |
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Lyric/music | none officially/Dusan SESTIC |
Date of Independence | 1 March 1992 (from Yugoslavia); note - referendum for independence completed on 1 March 1992; independence declared on 3 March 1992 |
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National holiday | 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 |
Legal system | civil law system; Constitutional Court review of legislative acts |
International law organization participation | has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction |
Constitution | |
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 |
Citizenship | |
Citizenship by birth | 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 |
Executive Branch | |
Chief of state | Chairperson of the Presidency Denis BECIROVIC (chairperson since 16 March 2024; presidency member since 16 November 2022 - Bosniak seat); Zeljka CVIJANOVIC (presidency member since 16 November 2022 - Serb seat); Zeljko KOMSIC (presidency member since 20 November 2018 - Croat seat) |
Head of government | Chairperson of the Council of Ministers Borjana KRISTO (since 25 January 2023) |
Cabinet | Council of Ministers nominated by the council chairperson, approved by the state-level House of Representatives |
Elections/appointments | 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; election last held on 2 October 2022 (next to be held in October 2026); the chairperson of the Council of Ministers appointed by the presidency and confirmed by the state-level House of Representatives |
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% - Bosniak seat |
Legislative branch | |
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 to 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) |
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 - men 13, women 2, percentage 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 - men 34, women 8, percentage women 19.1%; total Parliamentary Assembly percentage women 17.5% |
Judicial branch | |
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 includes 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; international 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 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | |
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 | [email protected] http://www.bhembassy.org/index.html |
Consulate(s) general | Chicago |
Diplomatic representation from the US | |
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 | [email protected] https://ba.usembassy.gov/ |
Branch office(s) | Banja Luka, Mostar |
National heritage | |
Total World Heritage Sites | 4 (3 cultural, 1 natural) |
Selected World Heritage Site locales | Old Bridge Area of Mostar (c); Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge (c); Stećci Medieval Tombstones Graveyards (c); Primeval Beech Forests - Janj Forest (n) |
Want to know more about Bosnia and Herzegovina? Check all different factbooks for Bosnia and Herzegovina below.