Candidates for the president and vice presidents of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lidija Bradara and Igor Stojanović, stated today after the meeting that they did not want to make a decision on who will perform the functions of president and vice president of the FBiH without the candidate from the Bosniak people, Refik Lendo (SDA).
Stojanović said that Lendo did not respond to the invitation for a meeting after the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation yesterday confirmed Bradara, Stojanović and Lendo for the new leadership of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We are trying to have a constructive conversation and Lendo told us that he will inform us today after 2 pm about the date and time of the meeting for an agreement,” said Stojanović.
He explained that no deadline has been set for when they should choose the president or vice presidents of the FBiH, but since the FBiH Government has been in a technical mandate for four years, he says they want to take responsibility and start working as soon as possible.
“Any of us can postpone in this way the election of the president indefinitely, which is in the interest of some. After that, we have a deadline of 30 days to propose the prime minister-designate of the FBiH Government,” said Stojanović.
A candidate from the Croat people, Lidija Bradara (Croat Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina), expressed her regret that Lendo did not attend the meeting.
If there is no agreement, she added, they should inform the House of Representatives and then they will determine who is the president of FBiH.
“It turned out that some did not want to agree yesterday and we suspended the procedure. The decision cannot be submitted to the Central Election Commission of BiH, nor can the CEC award certificates until they know who the FBiH president is,” she clarified.
She also expressed regret that some, as she said, want to continue to block the Federation at any cost.
The candidate for president and vice president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Serb people, Igor Stojanović (Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina), confirmed for FENA that today there will still be a meeting regarding the agreement for the leadership of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Stojanović said that last night he spoke with the Bosniak candidate Refik Lendo (Party of Democratic Action), who told him that he would not be able to come before next week.
“His position is that the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina should first certify our mandates, but 96 deputies voted for our list yesterday at the session of the House of Representatives, the agreement should be a mere formality,” pointed out Stojanović.
There is nothing controversial in the agreement, he added, “unless you intend to delay the process of forming the FBiH Government”.
He claims that today he will still hold a meeting with the candidate from the Croat people Lidija Bradara (Croat Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
“Most likely, we will agree in line with the political agreement that Nermin Nikšić will be FBiH prime minister-designate, and therefore Bradara will be the president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Stojanović said.
The candidate for president/vice president of the FBiH from the ranks of Bosniak people, Refik Lendo, confirmed for FENA that he will not attend the meeting scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today.
“I asked them to leave it for next week because I have planned activities that I cannot postpone and I informed them about that,” said Lendo.
He believes that the agreement should be approached seriously and that they should first wait for the CEC of BiH to certify their mandates.
Commenting on the fact that Stojanović and Bradara will still try to agree on who will perform the functions of president and vice president, Lendo said that they cannot agree without him.
“This is clear to them, but they are putting pressure on again,” added Lendo.
Yesterday, after the session of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples, Bradara and Stojanović waited for Lendo to agree on the FBiH leadership, but he did not show up.
