.1.A directly elected tripartite Presidency, which is in charge of foreign, diplomatic and military affairs, and the budget of state-level institutions. The three presidency members are from the three constituent nations - one Bosniak, one Serb, one Croat. Quite controversially, the candidates are “self-defined” as such and must only claim one identity, so you cannot have someone standing (or voting) for both the Bosniak and Croat member, or identifying outside these pre-constituted groups - for example, anyone who considers themselves as simply Bosnian, Roma or Croat and Jewish, is ineligible. Each member is separately elected by plurality vote (the candidate with most votes, but not necessarily a majority, wins).

2. The Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina encompasses a House of Representatives and a House of Peoples. The 42 members of the house of representatives are directly elected via a system of proportional representation. 28 members are elected in the Federation, 14 in the Republika Srpska. The 15 members of the house of peoples are indirectly elected by the entities’ parliaments, with two-thirds of members from the Federation (five Croats and five Bosniaks) and one-third from the Republika Srpska (five Serbs)

3. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina is nominated by the Presidency and approved by the House of Representatives - s/he is effectively the Prime Minister, and nominates ministers. The state government is in charge of security and defence (so enacting through legislation the decisions of the presidency), customs and immigration, fiscal and monetary policy, and facilitating inter-entity coordination and regulation.

4. At an entity level, both the Federation and the Republika Srpska have significant autonomy. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a directly-elected 98-member house of representatives. The Republika Srpska has an 83-member national assembly. Entities’ parliaments have jurisdiction over healthcare, education, agriculture, culture, veteran issues, labour, police and internal affairs.

5. At both state and entity levels, delegates to the upper houses have the primary duty of ensuring that there is agreement between constituent nations, and representatives of minorities, when confirming legislation.

6. Both entities have a Prime Minister and 16 ministries. The Federation is furthermore divided into 10 cantons, each with its own administrative government and relative autonomy on local issues such as education and health care.