New test for the trio: Narrowed choice for mayor or change all candidates

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Abdulah Skaka remains mayor of Sarajevo until the City Council elects a new mayor, regardless of the fact that the Council Chairman Jasmin Ademović is a Bosniak.

The constitutive session of the City Council has already been interrupted twice, and the date for its continuation is not yet known. It is difficult to expect that Sarajevo will get a new mayor by April 6, the Day of the City of Sarajevo, after Bogić Bogićević withdrew his candidacy and distanced himself from the entire process that was taking place in the City Council.

We remind you that the City Council on Friday, March 26, voted on the proposal for mayor Bogić Bogićević, even though he had already publicly announced on March 24 that he was withdrawing his candidacy. The farce that followed only further complicated an already unpleasant situation, so Bogićević, in a sharply worded letter (this time addressed to Chairman Ademović), stated that his being voted on when he had already withdrawn his candidacy was pointless.

Everything that happened after Bogićević's second letter shows that the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Our Party, and People and Justice have no idea about a possible other candidate for mayor. The heaviest burden is on the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will again propose a candidate, given that People and Justice and Our Party have each nominated one deputy mayor, Haris Bašić and Anja Margetić.

There is no information from the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina about a possible candidate, but we do know who is not interested in that position, as they are also making public appearances.

Regardless of the fact that Bogićević was a candidate from the Serbian people, although he was proposed due to all his merits for which he has indebted Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo, the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina no longer has to strictly follow national affiliation, even though the other two partners have each given a candidate for deputy from the Bosniak and Croatian peoples.

It is more important to elect a person for the position of mayor who has broad public support than to adapt because of two or three names that would have to be proposed again. The parties that proposed the candidates certainly claimed that they had several quality candidates, so new names should not be a problem.

If the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina agrees to propose a candidate from the Serbian people or from among others, it means that neither the Chairman of the City Council nor the candidates for deputies would change. But the trio that has 15 votes in the City Council (People and Justice 7, Our Party 5, and Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina 3) should think carefully and make a final decision on how to resolve the current situation in the best (or only) possible way, which has certainly cast a stain on the City of Sarajevo and the office of mayor.