The President of People and Justice (Narod i Pravda), Elmedin Konakovic, met with HDZ President Dragan Covic in Mostar, and they discussed matters related to the formation of the government. In an interview, he talked about future plans.
When asked whether the election of members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a condition that the HDZ sets for any negotiations, Konakovic says that this is a serious programmatic activity.
”HDZ, together with the coalition of the Eight (Osmorka), is doing something that has not been seen before on the political scene of BiH, and I can say that it is something that I am really particularly proud of. The thesis that we please the HDZ or that the HDZ pleases us comes from nervous power centers who see that they are losing power and is of course completely unfounded,” Konakovic says.
Konakovic emphasizes that their imperative is to amend the Constitution of BiH and amend the Election Law in order to implement the judgments of international courts, and so that Serbs from the Federation of BiH (FBiH) and Bosniaks and Croats from the Republika Srpska (RS), as well as the Romani people, Jews, and all other citizens of BiH could to be candidates for a member of the Presidency.
”This taboo, which is set as an ultimatum in favor of the HDZ, actually only shows the regime’s nervousness, and I think I can safely say that they are rightly nervous,” he adds.
Moreover, he says that so far there have been talks of program activities that are nominally or mainly focused on the Government of FBiH and the establishment of authorities at the entity level, but that it is logical that immediately after that, they discuss the formation of government at the state level, and that it is done seriously and in detail, step by step.
If, as it seems to us we will, we coordinate everything and harmonize the primary priorities, then very soon the topic of the establishment of government at the level of the state of BiH will come up.
Regarding the formation of the people’s caucus in the House of Peoples of the FBiH, Konakovic says: ”Despite the fact that the SDA is still trying with all its might, I see that this team from Tuzla has gone to Krajina, people from the Una-Sana Canton (USC) told me that the pressure that initially succeeded in Tuzla is no longer successful anywhere. That team is now trying to lobby representatives in Krajina, regardless of everything they do, it is absolutely certain that the majority in both houses, the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, easily belong to the coalition of the Eight.”
”The coalition of the Eight has a slight majority in the Caucus of Serbs and the Caucus of Others, and that is untouchable to SDA. The Bosniak Caucus with a safe 10 mandates that are already logical and agreed upon in the cantons. We are waiting for the outcome of the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton (BDC), the Central Bosnia Canton (CBC), and the draw from Posavina and Livno. In those four cantons, just one more delegate is enough for the parties of the Eight to propose their candidate in the Bosniak Caucus. The SDA currently has nine delegates, so we have a nice, solid advantage and we have no doubts at all that we will secure 12, maybe even 13, by the end, but we will talk about math when the election process is over,” Konakovic concluded.
