Bosniak members of the BiH House of Peoples–the upper house of parliamentary assembly–have blocked the passage of a new law on the provision of unique personal identification numbers, saying that the urgent manner in which the law was adopted by the Council of Ministers constitutes a threat to the “vital national interests” of Bosniak people.
The vital national interest mechanism has been used a number of times in recent months to block legislation in the Federation assembly. The BiH Constitutional Court will now have to rule on the matter before the law can be passed.
The ID law replaces an antiquated law that was struck down earlier this year, leaving citizens with no way to obtain ID numbers for newborn children. The long delay in passing a new law led to massive public protests in Sarajevo and elsewhere.
