SP 1, KC 1, BOSS 1,
HSS 1; the Republika Srpska has a National Assembly (83 seats;
members elected by popular vote to serve NA year terms); elections
last held NA (next to be held NA); percent of vote by party--NA;
seats by party/coalition--SDS 19, KCD 15, SNS 12, SRS-RS 11, SPRS 10,
SNSD 6, RSRS 3, SKRS 2, SDP 2, KKO 1, HDZ-BiH 1, NHI 1

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, consists of nine members:
four members are selected by the Muslim/Croat Federation's House of
Representatives, two members by the Republika Srpska National
Assembly, and three non-Bosnian members by the president of the
European Court of Human Rights

Political parties and leaders: Bosnian Party of Rights or BSP
IZETBEGOVIC; includes SDA, SBH, GDS, LS]; Croatian Democratic Union
BIH or SDP (formerly the Democratic Party of Socialists or DSS)
note: note--SDP and SDBIH announced a merger in 1999

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: CE (guest), CEI, EBRD,
ECE, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM (guest), OAS
(observer), OIC (observer), OPCW, OSCE, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO,
UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Dragan BOZANIC
chancery: 2109 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20037
consulate(s) general: New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Richard D. KAUZLARICH
embassy: Alipasina 43, 71000 Sarajevo
mailing address: use street address

Flag description: a wide medium blue vertical band on the fly
side with a yellow isosceles triangle abutting the band and the top
of the flag; the remainder of the flag is medium blue with seven
full five-pointed white stars and two half stars top and bottom
along the hypotenuse of the triangle

Government--note: Until declaring independence in spring 1992,
Bosnia and Herzegovina existed as a republic in the former
Yugoslavia. Bosnia was partitioned by fighting during 1992-95 and
governed by competing ethnic factions. Bosnia's current governing
structures were created by the Dayton Agreement, the 1995 peace
agreement which was officially signed in Paris on 14 December 1995
by then Bosnian President IZETBEGOVIC, Croatian President TUDJMAN,
and then Serbian President MILOSEVIC. This agreement retained
Bosnia's exterior border and