Vital Interest

If the Presidency is unable to achieve consensus on a decision related to powers listed in subparagraphs (a) – (e), the decision may be taken by two of the three members, unless the dissenting member declares that the decision is destructive of a vital interest of the territory from which he/she was elected.²⁸⁰¹ Assertion of the vital interest provision triggers a vote in the Republika Srpska National Assembly or the Bosniak or Croat caucus of the Federation House of Peoples depending on which member of the Presidency asserted the vital interest provision. A confirmation by a 2/3 vote of the relevant body will uphold the vital interest and nullify the presidential decision.

It should be noted that the vital interest provision in Article V differs from the vital interest provision found in Article IV in that members of the Presidency have constitutional authority to protect the vital interests of the Entity from which they are elected while the Parliamentary Assembly has constitutional authority to protect the vital interests of Constituent Peoples. One is based on territorial interests while the other is based on ethnic interests. The territorial and ethnic principles become confused when exercised by the Presidency because the assertion of the vital interest by a member of the Presidency elected from the Federation is voted on by one of the ethnic caucuses within the Federation House of Peoples.