DF CHOOSES BETWEEN SDP BiH AND SNSD Who will get the Vice-President of FBiH?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The process of appointing the President and Vice-President of the Federation of BiH has been stalled for a long time, and SDA's calls to HDZ BiH to propose a candidate for the President of FBiH have been unsuccessful. HDZ BiH is conditioning this on changes to the Election Law. In this way, the process of forming a new FBiH Government cannot begin.

And while HDZ will get the position of President of FBiH, and SDA one of the two Vice-President positions, there are several interested parties for the other. One of them is Milorad Dodik's SNSD, and the other is the Democratic Front, which has no Serbs in the FBiH Parliament. SDA opposes this demand from SNSD, while on the other hand, Bakir Izetbegović does not mind that DF lacks the capacity for this position.

This position is interesting due to strong competencies and the possibility of blockades, and therefore one must think carefully about who to entrust this function to. That person must be a state-builder, not someone who is compliant because they are part of a coalition.

It seems that the outcome in forming the government, which we have been following for 15 months, will not bring what the citizens of BiH desire – experts who will work for the state and citizens. At least that will be the case as long as SDA, SNSD, HDZ, DF, and SBB have so many conditions and blackmail. An example is that for the first time in history, we have an incomplete Council of Ministers, and the FBiH Government can only be dreamed of.

The lack of principles of the Democratic Front also confuses the public. Their Milan Dunović, Vice-President of FBiH from the Serb people, remained in this position despite the fact that DF left the government in 2015. Although they lack the capacity, they want this position again. Unlike DF, the Social Democratic Party of BiH has the real capacity to propose a candidate for Vice-President of FBiH.

In the end, SDP gave their signatures in 2014 for Dunović's candidacy, without which he could not have been elected.

If Dunović could be Vice-President of the Federation and an opposition member at the same time, why couldn't a person from SDP be now?

The structure of the elected representatives is very clear. SDP with its partners has 36 representatives and delegates.

SDP has 7 delegates in the Club of Serbs (two delegates from the Serb people who were not elected to cantonal assemblies but were elected to the House of Peoples to fill the Club of Serbs (Mladen Lonić USK and Dragan Stevanović KS), DF has none, but they still want the position of Vice-President.

It is no wonder that SNSD has become interested in this position. The solution could be precisely in the candidate of SDP BiH.

SDP's advantage is that they are the only ones who can propose a candidate on their own. DF and others can support SNSD, or SNSD can support them. There is also another option where SNSD can do without them if they eventually win over Daliborka Milović and Velimir Tanović from Goražde with Zora Dujmović from HDZ.

A dangerous trade is being prepared, but it is evident that SDP will not give its signature for DF because it has been shown through Dunović that the opposition can hold the position of Vice-President of the Federation. There is a possibility that SNSD will support the candidate proposed by SDP.

For now, as analysts also note, only SDP has true multi-ethnicity.

The election of the President and Vice-President of FBiH follows this procedure. At least one-third of the delegates from each constituent people's club in the House of Peoples can nominate a candidate for President or Vice-President, respectively. To establish the candidate lists, majority support is required in the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples, with the condition of majority support from each constituent people's club.

Without this support, the nomination procedure is repeated.

If support from one of the houses is denied even in the repeated procedure, the list will be considered accepted with the support of only one house.

The President with the Vice-Presidents is elected for a four-year term.