ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - No agreement on the reform of electoral legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is possible at this moment, and talks should continue only after the general election in October, the leader of the ruling Bosniak SDA party, Bakir Izetbegović, said on Sunday.

"There is no legal space to amend the electoral law because the Central Electoral Commission called the election ten days ago. And also, we are too far off from an agreement," Izetbegović said in an interview with the Bosnian Faktor news website.

He said that negotiations on the electoral reform had fallen through because the leadership of the Bosnian Croat HDZ BiH party had "too ambitious plans" about amendments that should be adopted. He added that the HDZ BiH's strategy was wrong because it was based on the blockade of the Bosniak-Croat Federation entity, cooperation with Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and pressure on the SDA and Bosniaks.

Commenting on the announcement that a senior EU official would come to Sarajevo this month when the question of the electoral reform could be raised again, Izetbegović said that nothing would come of it and that he was certain that there would be no pressure to reach an agreement before the 2 October election.

"We have had some preparatory meetings with their advisers which clearly showed this approach and priorities," the SDA leader said. He pointed out that talks with EU officials would focus solely on the implementation of reforms and obstacles on the path to EU membership candidate status.

Izetbegović said that the electoral reform would be discussed "as soon as a new post-election coalition is formed."

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ZAGREB, 27 March 2022 - Bosniak SDA party leader Bakir Izetbegović said in a letter to EU and Croatian leaders on Sunday he was ready to continue talks on changes to Bosnia's election law, but stressed that he would not accept solutions leading to further ethnic divisions, singling out the HDZ BiH as an advocate of such ideas.

In a letter to EU leaders whose content was reported to local media by Bosnia and Herzegovina's ruling Bosniak party, Izetbegović said that "the HDZ's tough positions, excessive insistence on the principle of ethnicity and refusal to seriously discuss defining the powers of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the BiH Federation entity" had prevented an agreement during negotiations mediated by EU and US officials.

The last round of negotiations ended inconclusively a week ago and HDZ BiH leader Dragan Čović and Izetbegović have since traded a number of serious accusations over the failure of the talks.

After that, Čović sent a letter to EU officials informing them of the positions of parties gathered in the Croatian National Assembly (HNS), an umbrella political organisation of BiH Croat parties, their point being that they insist on consistent respect for the constitutional rights of BiH's constituent peoples, including Croats, which includes the right to legitimate representation in all levels of government.

This prompted Izetbegović to write to European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as well as Croatian President Zoran Milanović and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

In his letter, Izetbegović particularly condemns the possible launching of the process of territorial reorganisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the boycott Croat parties could opt for if the coming election is organised in line with the existing election law.

Izetbegović says that any attempt to unilaterally change the country's territorial structure would be in direct violation of the Dayton Agreement and jeopardise peace and stability, and that he sees it as the restoration of Herceg-Bosna, the Bosnian Croat statelet established during the country's 1992-1995 war.

As for the possible boycott of the elections, Izetbegović says that it is a democratic way to demonstrate one's dissatisfaction, to which everyone is entitled, but notes that it does not mean the right to obstruct and block elections because that is against the country's constitution.

The SDA leader also resolutely dismisses the HDZ's claims that the SDA wants to establish a unitary state, noting that by using such accusations Čović and his associates are actually looking for an alibi for a policy that would lead to a complete division of the country along ethnic lines, which, he says, they have been doing in cooperation with Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.

"I want to emphasis that during the last round of talks, significant progress has been made that can be the basis for the continuation of talks. The SDA will always accept negotiations that will lead to stabilisation and solutions that are in line with European standards and EU recommendations," reads Izetbegović's letter to EU officials and EU member-countries' leaders.

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ZAGREB, 23 Feb 2022 - It is still possible to delay elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, due in October, if that would help resolve the problem of electoral law reform, the leader of the predominantly Bosniak Democratic Action Party (SDA), Bakir Izetbegović, said on Wednesday.

Izetbegović was speaking to the press in Sarajevo after talks between the Croat and Bosniak parties on the reform of electoral law, which were to have been held in Mostar on Tuesday, had been cancelled without explanation.

Izetbegović said he had not been invited to that meeting at all, but added that that did not affect his readiness for talks to continue in order to reach a solution.

"It is not unrealistic for an agreement to be reached," the SDA leader said, adding that an agreement should include a provision requiring the enforcement of all court judgments that had found discrimination in the election process. He said that "some progress" had been made in the consultations held so far.

Izetbegović said that the representatives of the international community were now waiting for the politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina to come closer in their views, after which they themselves might get involved in the finalisation of the agreement.

The SDA leader, however, rejected the possibility of changing the composition of the Central Election Commission (SIP), as demanded by the Croat HDZ BiH party and the SNSD of the Serb member of the state presidency, Milorad Dodik.

At a meeting of the upper house of the state parliament on Wednesday, the HDZ BiH and the SNSD adopted a conclusion saying that the present SIP had been appointed illegally and that the appointment procedure should be repeated. The two ruling Croat and Serb parties are dissatisfied because they consider the present Serb and Croat members of the SIP to be close to the opposition. The Bosniak MPs were against the proposal.

Izetbegović said that the HDZ and the SNSD could ask the court to decide on their proposal, otherwise the composition of the SDP would not be changed.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 22 Nov 2021 - Croatia's Embassy in Sarajevo on Monday condemned statements by Bosniak leader Bakir Izetbegović bringing into question the historical identity of the constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The embassy's statement was a response to speeches which Izetbegović, leader of the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA), made at functions organized by expats in Germany last week.

The embassy points to Izetbegović's misuse of historical terms for what it describes as petty political purposes and in a bid to erode the identity of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the least numerous constituent people in the country.

During the events, organized by Bosniak expat communities, Izetbegović said, according to reports in local media outlets, that all people in Bosnia and Herzegovina "are the descendants of the good Bošnjans, that is Bogomils", a reference to members of the Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect in Bosnia in the early Middle Ages. He went on to say that it was only in the more recent time that those people were divided along ethnic and religious lines by political forces.

Izetbegović also insisted that there was sufficient evidence that in the Middle Ages residents of Bosnia were members of the Orthodox or Catholic Church but that they were not Serbs or Croats, especially not in the present-day meaning of those terms.

The Croatian embassy recalls that the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina recognizes three constituent peoples: the Bosniaks, the Croats and the Serbs.

Officials of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country aspiring to become a candidate for EU membership, are expected to show commitment to European values, including the principle of equality and preservation of the different national identities of the three constituent peoples, says the embassy.

The Croatian National Council, an umbrella association of Croat parties and societies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has already condemned Izetbegović's statements that the HDZ BiH party "will get nothing" if its leader Dragan Čović does not accept compromises concerning amendments to the country's election legislation.

The HNS BiH has accused Izetbegović of behaving like an Ottoman Turkish bey.

"This does not pave the way to any compromise. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a private land owned by a bey. Representation of the constituent peoples... is a constitutional category confirmed by all the rulings of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Court of Human Rights," the HNS BiH said.

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ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - Croatian President Zoran Milanović spoke with the leader of the Democratic Action Party (SDA) of Bosnia andHerzegovina, Bakir Izetbegović, on Tuesday about the relationship between the Bosniaks and Croats, the President's Office said in a press release.

They discussed the relationship between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, notably the relationship between the Bosniaks and Croats and the need to improve it in accordance with the Dayton agreement, the press release said.

Izetbegović also serves as Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, April 27, 2018 - The two most senior Bosniak and Croat officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina used European Council President Donald Tusk's visit on Thursday to confront their views on Croatia's plan to build a bridge between the Peljašac peninsula and the mainland.

ZAGREB, February 8, 2018 - The Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegović dismissed claims by his Croat counterpart Dragan Čović that the demographic domination of Bosniaks was threatening to establish an Islamic state in the country.

ZAGREB, February 7, 2018 - The Croatian National Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HNS BiH), which includes the most significant Croat parties in the country, on Wednesday condemned an interview with the Bosniak member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Bakir Izetbegović on Croatian national television, saying that Izetbegović had "belittled and insulted" Croat war victims and added that the Croat people in central Bosnia suffered most gravely in the last war.

ZAGREB, February 5, 2018 - The Bosniak member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Bakir Izetbegović, on Sunday called for relaxation of relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and between the Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, warned that a third entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina was not possible without a war and opposed the planned construction of the Pelješac Bridge without first demarcating the border and ensuring Bosnia and Herzegovina access to the high seas.