Kukić after talks with Radončić: Stepping down from the position of PDA president is also an option

(Patria) - Before the sun appeared in Banovići, Mirsad Kukić headed for Sarajevo. On Friday at 10 a.m., in the “twisted tower,” he had a meeting with Fahrudin Radončić.

“We exchanged opinions,” Mirsad Kukić, president of the PDA who ended up on the American blacklist this week, tells Istraga.ba.

On Friday afternoon, Kukić is also expected to meet with someone from Naša stranka, which has made the “survival of the TK Government” conditional on the resignation of the PDA president.

“Nothing spectacular will happen. I’m going to see where their such stances come from,” explains Mirsad Kukić the reasons for his meeting with Naša stranka.

Former president of Naša stranka and state representative Predrag Kojović on Thursday lobbied coalition partners to influence Mirsad Kukić to resign, in order to save the Government of Tuzla Canton, which consists of ministers from the SDP, Naša stranka, SBB, and Mirsad Kukić’s PDA.

“I spoke with Radončić,” Predrag Kojović admits to Istraga.ba, “and I said that, for the general interest, it would be good for Kukić to resign as party president. The Americans are eternal friends of BiH, and out of respect for them, a resignation is necessary.”

An agreement seems to have already been reached. According to information from Istraga, Mirsad Kukić will step down from the position of PDA president by the end of January. He will retain his position as a representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. Elzina Pirić or someone from Kukić’s close circle will formally take over the leadership of the party. Kukić will remain a shadow ruler. However, this will fulfill the formal demands of coalition partners, and the TK Government will be “saved.”

PDA president Mirsad Kukić does not rule out the possibility of resigning.

“We’ll see what is in the interest of some general matter. No solution is excluded,” Kukić tells us, actually confirming that his resignation is one of the options.

But will Kukić’s first associate Elzina Pirić take over the function of president?

“I don’t know who would take over the party. I have to convene the Main Board. I don’t know, for now. It’s illogical for someone else to set such conditions. Nermin (Nikšić) is in isolation with me. I will also talk to their people. They have a Collegium next week. We’ll see,” explains Kukić in a statement to Istraga.ba.

However, all of this, we learn, should be just a formality. Kukić will most likely step down from the position of PDA president.

Does his formal departure change the political essence of the PDA, we ask Predrag Kojović from Naša stranka.

“Kukić is under sanctions. If someone else from that party should have been, they would have been,” Kojović tells us.

We conclude that if Elzina Pirić were to take over the function of PDA president, Naša stranka would remain in coalition with that party. And the TK Government would survive. The sun would only formally not shine.