Pilav v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 41939/07, ECtHR (Fifth Section), 9 June 2016

General prohibition of discrimination and it is impossible for a person who defines himself as a Bosniac and resident in the Serbian Republic to stand as a candidate for the elections for the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Art. 1 Prot. 12 ECHR
Art. 3 Prot. 1 ECHR

1. A residency requirement in order to exercise the right to stand as a candidate constitutes discrimination with respect to art. 1, Prot. 12 ECHR when this is also linked to the requirement of ethnicity.

2. A residence requirement is not disproportionate or inconsistent with the right to free elections provided for in art. 3, Prot. 1 ECHR, but in this specific case it is a discriminatory requirement. As the differentiation follows ethnic criteria.
(The applicant, despite belonging to the constituent people of the Bosniacs had been deprived of the right to passive electorate for the Presidency as a resident of the Serbian Republic, one of the federal entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina).

For the decision of the case similar to the present one, see also judgment Zornić v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 3681/06, ECtHR (Fourth Section), 15 July 2014.