Izetbegović: We cannot negotiate under duress with HDZ, first the FBiH Government, then the Election Law

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Bakir Izetbegović, president of SDA, addressed reporters after the meeting with the president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Čović.

Izetbegović stated that in the negotiations regarding the Election Law, all rulings of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg must be implemented.

"And this is the political part of the agreement we signed a few months ago. Seemingly, these rulings are in conflict, but they are not, because they insist on two principles on which BiH rests, the civic and the ethnic. Any agreement would mean a stable balance of these two principles and a stable BiH. SDA and HDZ can only devise a model for a solution," Izetbegović stated.

He explained that any agreement must be accepted by two-thirds of the deputies in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, as well as by delegates in the House of Peoples.

"Before that, it must also be accepted by the representatives of SDA's coalition partners, which are DF and SBB. I entered these negotiations with the agreement of Komšić and Radončić. SDA will insist on the consistent application of the BiH Constitution. The Houses of Peoples cannot have the same role and power as the houses of representatives. The peoples in BiH have the right to be represented. They have the right to protect vital national interests, and that is all. Their representatives do not have the right to reject without justification everything that the houses of representatives adopt, and this has turned into a terror of the minority over the majority in FBiH," said the SDA president.

Izetbegović reminded that the solution for the elections in Mostar seemed impossible, but that issue was eventually resolved.

"A serious continuation of talks between SDA and HDZ is not realistic until the results of the 2018 elections are implemented. We have been without a federal level of government for two years already, and without a filled Constitutional Court of FBiH for eight months. SDA insists on this, and I think it is better to postpone all of this until the Local Elections are over, because any solution we devise, no matter how good, will be attacked by other parties in this pre-election period. The fact that election results have not been implemented at the federal level for two years makes the elections themselves meaningless. What is the point of elections and amendments to the Election Law if we are not going to implement the election results?" Izetbegović explained.

Izetbegović reiterated that there will be no further negotiations with HDZ until the new FBiH Government is formed, and reminded that the law stipulates that election results must be implemented.

"We cannot negotiate under duress," the SDA president stated.

He said that, as far as his party is concerned, everything can be completed this week regarding the implementation of election results. He stated that Čović objected and disagreed with forming the FBiH Government first.

The SDA president reiterated that the Election Law obliges parties to implement election results. Regarding the coalition with SBB, he said it exists in the FBiH Government and in several cantons.

"When there are difficult relations between SBB and SDA, Radončić and I meet, talk, and make progress. For example, this agreement on Mostar was not made in a good atmosphere between SDA and SBB at all. We have these fluctuations that we overcome. We make some progress when these relations are good. As far as I am concerned, I will strive to have as many of these good moments between SBB and SDA as possible," said Izetbegović.

He explained that he expects HDZ to abandon the mechanisms by which they are blocking the filling of the FBiH Constitutional Court and the formation of the Government.

"The minority cannot nullify the will of the majority from the House of Representatives. This is what is happening at the moment. If they are prepared to go in that direction, to make concessions, we will also find a way to find a solution for them," Izetbegović stated.

He stated that the Croatian people are equal to other peoples, and have the right to what is written in the Constitution, but they do not have the right to nullify the will of the houses of representatives.