Due to political crisis in BiH, the Three parties' candidate for the Presidency is on the back burner

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Although the leaders of the Three parties (SDP BiH, NiP, Our Party) announced in September that they would start talks on a possible candidate for the Presidency and conclude this process by the end of December and come up with a name, due to the current political situation, the blockade of state institutions, and the creation of the most serious crisis since the end of the aggression against BiH, talks on this topic are on hold.

These parties do not want to reveal too much or talk about potential individual candidacies if the Three parties do not agree on one, preferably non-partisan, candidate.

The president of NiP, Elmedin Konaković, said last night in an interview for FTV, when asked if Denis Bećirović, who was elected deputy president of NiP after joining the party a few days ago, is NiP's definitive choice for the Presidency, that the Three parties' imperative is to come up with a joint candidate.

"The situation imposed by Milorad Dodik's behavior has put our negotiations on the back burner. We have work that does not only concern negotiations about the candidacy for a member of the Presidency, and we are working diligently on it. In the last month, our negotiation activities have not been at the level they should have been. By now, a neutral name should have crystallized as the Three parties' candidate for a member of the BiH Presidency, who, I am convinced, would win by a double margin against any competitor, especially a competitor coming from the Party of Democratic Action. If an agreement is not possible, if SDP insists on some party solution, we will exhaust all possible elements of discussion and only then discuss a candidate within NiP," said Konaković.

At the NiP press conference on Monday, where Zvizdić was officially presented as a member of that party, he avoided a precise answer to Patria's question about whether he could say that he would not be a candidate for the Presidency.

"I have never said that my imperative is to be a candidate for any position, my imperative has never been to be a candidate for a member of the BiH Presidency. It is the sovereign right of each party to propose a candidate or to agree on a joint candidate. I still believe that the best solution is a joint candidate of the Three parties who 100 percent has full capacity and would win this race with a huge percentage of certainty," said Zvizdić.

There is an option that NiP would rather put Zvizdić as the head of the list for the State Parliament in the next elections.

The SDP BiH has repeatedly stated that they have the responsibility as the largest opposition party in BiH to propose a candidate if the Three parties cannot agree on a candidate that all parties would support. If Zvizdić is the proposal for that position, SDP will not support him. The president of SDP BiH, Nermin Nikšić, has confirmed several times that he does not shy away from the possibility of being a candidate himself. At the end of October, he told Face TV that SBB, NES, and PDA would also support his candidacy.

The president of Our Party, Edin Forto, said on October 15 that his party would definitely propose a candidate within the Three parties.

"The agreement is to propose a person whom we assess has the greatest chance of winning. The criteria also include having unquestionable personal integrity. Ideally, this person will be non-partisan," said Forto.

Although there is no official confirmation yet, considering the media appearances, especially regarding the current political crisis, Sabina Ćudić, vice-president of Our Party, could be precisely that candidate for Our Party.