After the municipal councils have been constituted in all municipalities of the City of Sarajevo, councilors for the City Council of the City of Sarajevo should be elected within 30 days. It is most likely that the Four will have the majority, which creates an opportunity for Bogic Bogicevic to be the next mayor.
The current balance of power in municipal councils shows that the Four should have 18, and the SDA and other parties 10
The City Council of the City of Sarajevo has a total of 28 councilors who are elected from the municipal councils of four city municipalities, ie from the Stari Grad, Centar, Novo Sarajevo, and Novi Grad. The City Council of the City of Sarajevo is elected indirectly after the formation of municipal councils in four city municipalities – Stari Grad, Centar, Novo Sarajevo, and Novi Grad.
Although the Four has the majority of councilors in these four municipalities, the election of city councilors is complex because it requires that Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs, as constituent peoples, be individually guaranteed a minimum of 20% seats in the City Council, and at least 2 (two) seats for the group Others regardless of the election results. Therefore, both blocs are creating their models of how to ensure the election of 15 councilors to the Sarajevo City Council and thus secure a majority.
That is how dr. Dragan Stevanovic (SDP) left the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament in order to take over the mandate in the Municipal Council of Centar, meaning that he as a Serb was automatically elected to the Sarajevo City Council. As he said, he did it at the request of the SDP, intending to ensure that the Four has a majority in the City Council in Sarajevo and enabling the election of the SDP candidate for the mayor of Sarajevo, Bogic Bogicevic.
The current balance of power shows that in Stari Grad, out of 7 councilors, 5 or 4 of them could be elected by the parties gathered around the Four. The list of candidates was submitted to the Central Election Commission, which needs to be confirmed, and the session is scheduled for the next week. SDA Stari Grad was shaken by an internal conflict, so two groups were formed, the first led by the current mayor Abdulah Skaka and the second one led by councilor Vedad Deljkovic.
The Four, supported by the Platform for Progress, could elect 6-7 councilors in Centar, and the fact that three non-Bosniaks in Centar have guaranteed mandates represents the advantage for them. A session of the Centar Municipal Council, at which city councilors would be elected, should be held in early February.
In Novo Sarajevo, the situation for the Four could be complicated because of the announced departure of Sanela Halac from the People and Justice Party (Narod i Pravda), as well as the possible departure of Arslan Ducic from the SDP. Due to the fact that Srdjan Srdic, who as a Serb also has a guaranteed mandate in the City Council, no longer works in the People and Justice Councilors’ Club, the Four could count on 4 out of 7 councilors in Novo Sarajevo.
In Novi Grad, SDA, along with coalition partners, should elect 4 councilors, while the Four could secure the election of 3 councilors. As for nor, the Four should have a secure majority in the Sarajevo City Council.
As for the positions, it is already known that Bogic Bogicevic is a candidate for the mayor. According to the reached agreement, one deputy mayor will be nominated by the People and Justice, and the other one by Nasa Stranka (Our Party). Also, the chairman of the City Council will be nominated by the People and Justice.
