OV Novo Sarajevo votes for city councilors, election of Sarajevo mayor draws closer

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Novo Sarajevo Municipal Council will today at 3:30 PM hold a continuation of the session where it will vote for seven city councilors, thus bringing that process into its final phase, i.e. for the Central Election Commission to determine the final mandates for 28 city councilors. 

The Chairman of the Novo Sarajevo Municipal Council, Robert Pleše, told Patria that one councilor is already known, given that he is the only candidate from the Serbian people, and it is Srđan Srdić, an independent representative who entered the Municipal Council as a candidate of NIP. 

The councilors can vote for eight confirmed candidate lists. 

The vote for city councilors was held in three city municipalities (Stari Grad, Centar, Novi Grad) where six councilors were elected in Stari Grad and Novi Grad each, and one more mandate will be determined by the Central Election Commission, while in Centar seven councilors were elected. According to the councilors elected so far, 13 are from the parties of the Quartet (NIP, Naša stranka, SDP BiH, NBL), three are from SDA, with none from Novi Grad despite ten councilors. SDA actually gave away two mandates to Enisa Spahić and Bajro Biber, repaying them for being part of the majority in the Novi Grad Municipal Council. Precisely because of this "agreement," with which not all SDA councilors agreed, Edina Gabela from SDA did not attend the session on February 11. 

It is expected that the CEC will allocate one mandate in Stari Grad to either SBB or the Alliance for Stari Grad from the Croatian people, and one mandate in Novi Grad from the Serbian people, which should most likely go to Naša stranka. After the councilors in Novo Sarajevo are elected, the Quartet will have a majority of 15 votes, and possibly a few more. 

After the CEC completes all procedures and confirms the mandates, the constitutive session of the City Council can be scheduled, where the mayor of Sarajevo will be elected. The session will be held at the beginning of March, and the only candidate at this moment is Bogić Bogićević, who is the proposal of SDP BiH. There is general agreement among the parties of the Quartet regarding his candidacy. i

The two deputy mayors will be proposed by Narod i pravda and Naša stranka, and NIP will also receive the position of Chairman of the City Council.