Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Ustavni sud Bosne i Hercegovine), No. AP-4144/16, 10 November 2016

Active electoral rights and citizens residing abroad.

Art. 3, Prot. 1, ECHR
Art. 1, Prot. 12 ECHR
Art. 2, paragraph. 4 Constitution

1. With regard to the right to vote, which is guaranteed by Article 3, Prot. 1 of the ECHR, the Member States enjoy a wide margin of appreciation as to how to regulate this matter and as to the organisation and conduct of the time of consultation.

2. The fact that the Bosnian-Herzegovinian electoral law provides for the same time-limit for the delivery of envelopes containing votes from abroad (48 hours) as the time-limit for neighbouring States (Serbia and Croatia) does not constitute discrimination against those resident in countries further away from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(The applicant, who was elected mayor of the town of Srebrenica, complained that it was impossible for some citizens to cast their votes because of the excessive distance of their residence in relation to the time allowed by the electoral law for the receipt of votes from abroad).