Nermin Nikšić: SDA caused the crisis, we will see who the real majority is in the Assembly

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Two sessions of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly have been scheduled for today. Although there were attempts on Wednesday to reach a solution, i.e. an agreement between the two assembly camps of part of the old majority in the Assembly (NiP, NS, SDP BiH, NBL, Damir Marjanović, Damir Nikšić, Jasna Duraković) and the new majority of 18 representatives (SDA, SBB, DF and BOSS), the meeting was held without a positive outcome. It is questionable whether the Sarajevo Canton will receive the Decision on Temporary Financing today, and time is running out. The new majority claims that Mirza Čelik is the Chairman of the Assembly and demands that he presides over the sessions, while the OHR has given an interpretation according to which Danijela Kristić is the Chairwoman of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly. The decision on her election has also been published in the Official Gazette of the Sarajevo Canton. 

President of SDP BiH Nermin Nikšić, ahead of today's sessions, said that the Government of the Sarajevo Canton is working responsibly and dedicatedly in the interest of the canton's citizens and will continue to do so until the last day of its mandate, for as long as it lasts. 

“The events in the Assembly do not affect the work of the Government, but a problem may arise if, especially the SDA, continues to insist on acting outside the prescribed framework. The latest opinion of the OHR as the supreme authority, interpreter of the Constitution, that Danijela Kristić is the only legal and real Chairwoman of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, is only a confirmation of what we all already knew. I emphasize that every majority has the right to form a government, but no one, not even that majority, has the right to carry out legal violence. The days ahead will show who the real majority in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly is,” said Nikšić.

It is now clear that the actions of the SDA group, due to haste and unfamiliarity with procedures, as well as the SDA's practice of thinking they can do as they please and for as long as they want, have led to a kind of blockade in the work of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, Nikšić believes.

“I hereby call on them to return to the framework of the Constitution, laws and the Rules of Procedure of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, so that the budget of the Sarajevo Canton can be adopted. I can only thank the citizens for their enormous support they have been giving to us in SDP BiH, as well as to the Government of the Sarajevo Canton and the quartet, since the beginning of the crisis caused by the SDA's desire to take control of the cantonal budget as soon as possible. On the other hand, the Government will continue to diligently fulfill one by one of the 300 promises made to the citizens of the Canton when forming this, the most successful Government of the Sarajevo Canton ever,” said Nikšić.

The President of SDP BiH, after Jasna Duraković's departure from SBB and her announcement that she would not support the dismissal of the Sarajevo Canton Government, called on the presidents of SBB and DF, Fahrudin Radončić and Željko Komšić, whose ministers are in that Government, to reconsider the dismissal of the Government once again. He also called on representatives to respect the will of the citizens who support the current Government of the Sarajevo Canton.