SDP and NIP still have no agreement on Sarajevo City leadership: and the question is who will manage the profitable public company JP Sarajevo

By: A. Vrabac

After the continuation of the constitutive session of the Sarajevo City Council was not held on June 26 due to lack of quorum, it is still unknown when the new continuation will take place. Otherwise, the saga has been dragging on since May 27, when the constitutive session began and was interrupted.

We remind you that seven SDP councilors did not attend the scheduled continuation, which was a clear message to the coalition partners that they do not agree to new conditions and changes to the previous agreement.

It has been known for months that NIP got the position of mayor, while SDP BiH and Our Party should propose one deputy each. When it comes to the City Council, the president should be from Our Party, and two vice-presidents from SDP from different constituent peoples. However, NIP changed its mind and is now seeking one vice-presidency of the City Council as well.

The balance of power in the 'Trojka' within the Sarajevo City Council does not favor NIP, which has only four councilors (all Bosniaks), while Our Party has five, and SDP BiH has seven from all constituent peoples.

On the other hand, the question of the new director of the Public Company Sarajevo has now opened up after Bakir Hadžiomerović was elected director of Radio-Television of FBiH. Hadžiomerović is from the SDP quota, and NIP now sees an opportunity to take over the leadership position in that profitable company, which manages the Trebević cable car and Vijećnica.

Unofficial information suggests that NIP would agree to SDP BiH having two deputy presidents of the City Council for this position.

What can be heard in the corridors of the City Administration is that there was no unity in NIP regarding Samir Avdić for the mayor of Sarajevo either, as some wanted the position for Mirza Selimbegović, the current deputy mayor Predrag Puharić.

It is interesting that the leaders of 'Trojka' are not commenting on the new fiasco with the election of Sarajevo city leaders, even though they regularly boast about the "successful story that started from Sarajevo."