Šlaku v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 56666/12, ECtHR (Fifth Section), 26 May 2016

Impossibility for a Bosnian citizen, of Albanian ethnicity, to run for election for the Presidency and for the House of Peoples, because of his ethnic origin.

Art. 1 Prot. 12 ECHR
Art. 3 Prot. 1 ECHR
Art. 14 ECHR

1. The impossibility for some citizens to stand for election to the Presidency and the Chamber of Peoples, just because they do not belong to one of the majority ethnic groups constitutes a discriminatory treatment, without objective and reasonable justification, and as such contrary to art. 14 and art. 1 of Prot. 12 of the ECHR.

2. Such a limitation to the passive electorate, moreover, cannot be compatible with art. 3 of Prot. 1 ECHR, as it is a discrimination based on the ethnicity of the candidate.
(In the present case, the applicant, a Bosnian citizen of Albanian ethnicity, was denied the possibility of running for election for the Presidency and for the Chamber of Peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina, as he did not belong to one of the "constituent peoples”.