The City Council of the City of Sarajevo held a session today at which the new mayor of the capital was elected.
As previously announced, the councilors elected Predrag Puharić to this position as a proposal of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Puharić was elected to this position with 21 votes in favor.
Predrag Puharić is a respected expert in the field of cybersecurity and digital transformation, with more than 20 years of experience in education, research and implementation of state-of-the-art security solutions in the digital space.
He graduated from the Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies at the University of Sarajevo. He trained as a Chevening Caber Security Fellow at Cranfield University in the UK and as a CRDF International Cybersecurity Fellow at Purdue University in the USA. He is also a recipient of the State Department’s IVLP scholarship, according to Klix.ba.
He currently serves as the director of the Center for Excellence in Cyber Security (CSEC) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In his previous political activity, Puharić is a long-time member of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which he once held the position of secretary of the Cantonal Committee of the SDP Sarajevo.
At the beginning of his address, Puharić said that the position of mayor is a great honor.
“I am speaking today with a great sense of honor and responsibility. I am aware of the importance of the moment and the challenges. I would like to thank the previous mayor. My task is to ensure the successful implementation of the projects that have started. Adopting the budget of the City of Sarajevo, ensuring the conditions for the new city council and electing a new mayor and the realization of the started projects will be my focus,” said Puharić.
He also repeated what his duty is in this position.
“Being the mayor of Sarajevo is an extraordinary honor. It is my duty to work for the benefit of all citizens. I invite councilors and institutions to act together. Thank you,” he concluded.
After the speech, the former mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karić, symbolically handed the keys to the city to the new mayor and wished him good luck in his work.
