Why an interfaith coalition is pushing to change Bosnia-Herzegovina’s constitution

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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (RNS) — Thirty years after the end of the Bosnian War, religious leaders across Bosnia and Herzegovina are calling to change the country’s constitution, which they say entrenches divisions between religious communities and keeps the country locked in the shadow of war.

National elections on Sunday (Oct. 4) saw a record-low turnout and a resurgence of nationalist leaders — some backed by Trump advisers — in several parts of the country. Many critics believe the outcome and lackluster participation are the result of Bosnia’s political structure, tied to a peace treaty that, while once necessary, has become antiquated.

“I’m not sure that we are in position for any democratic election because we don’t actually have a democratic constitution,” Emir Zlatar, the general secretary of the Council of the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals (VKBI), told RNS at his office in Sarajevo last month. VKBI is a nongovernmental organization that aims to protect the Bosniak ethnic group’s cultural, historical and national identity.

Zlatar, a Bosniak Muslim, is a part of a…