Dragan Covic, the president of HDZ Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) thinks that next year’s elections in BiH will not be possible unless a political agreement is reached on changes to the election legislation.
“Elections are planned for next year if the Election Law is adopted. Without the Election Law, elections cannot be organized and conducted, just as elections in Mostar could not be organized until we agreed on election rules in Mostar. Certain regulations of the Election law have been repealed due to the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH. So, in order to hold elections next year, amendments to the Election Law must be adopted in the BiH Parliament in this non-election year, ” stated Covic in an interview.
The first man of the HDZ BiH still believes that it is possible to reach a compromise, and when asked what his optimism is based on, Covic answered:
“Others have the right to comfort of reluctance, an alibi for leading the political process because the majority status in the Federation gives them that luxury. Croatian representatives do not have it. Given the experience we have when it comes to the last elections, it is clear that the Election Law must be changed in order to organize the next elections since no one wants to enter into any election adventures with unclear solutions anymore. My optimism comes from conversations with dozens of international institutions, but as well as the political actors within BiH itself, according to the same methodology and the negotiation technique according to which we completed the election solutions for Mostar, ” the HDZ leader pointed out.
While commenting on the relations between the Croats and Bosniaks, Covic emphasized that both sides must leave the past behind and turn to the future.
“The Bosniak and Croat peoples are fraternal peoples who must sit down and agree on every important issue for them, because they share the same territory, customs, habits, and history, no matter how much we were once opposed during that history. When we leave history behind, when we accept that crimes are crimes no matter who they were committed against, that these crimes were committed by individuals from our nations, not whole nations, when we look to the future, I believe it will be easier to see the need for us to live in friendship. I will make the maximum contribution to achieve our cooperation with Bosniaks at a sincere fraternal level and that will be one of my priorities as long as I am in politics, ” told Covic, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
