Main Bosnian Croat party satisfied with local election results

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Apart from some minor issues, the main Croat party, Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) is satisfied with its election results, party leader Dragan Covic said Monday, adding that he was glad no major incidents were reported during the election process.

Considering the process to be democratic, Covic said that “HDZ BiH can be very satisfied for winning 20 offices for mayors/heads of municipalities and over 300 councillors. We did our job pretty good, and despite the fact we didn't have a normal election campaign we still sent a strong message which is what we plan to do in the future. The election process lasts for four years and we must start preparing for the next local elections today,” Covic said.

Speaking about the results across individual cantons in Bosnia's Federation entity, he said the party managed to balance out their election result.

“In some areas, we have a slight rise or fall, which is normal, but we basically have to express our satisfaction. Congratulations to all those elected. We will probably know the results tomorrow as far as councillors are concerned, but the result is felt already. As far as HDZ BiH is concerned, we're sending a big thank you to everyone who recognized what we stand for and we will deal with analytics and then we will turn to the city of Mostar and the elections there, to complete that process similarly, “he said.

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Bosnia held a local election on Sunday on the territory of the entire country, with the exception for the City of Mostar, which will hold its elections in December.

The city has been in a deadlock for over 12 years, with two main ethnic-oriented parties in the city unable to reach a consensus over how the elections will be held. In June 2020, the largest Bosniak party – Democratic Action Party (SDA) finally inked an agreement with the HDZ BiH, thus creating conditions for democratic elections in the city.

The agreement was signed by Bakir Izetbegovic and Dragan Covic, the leaders of the Democratic Party Action (SDA) and the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), in presence of foreign ambassadors and Mostar's local politicians.

The local elections in the City of Mostar were last held in 2008. Two years later, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina acted upon motion of Croat representatives in the state Parliament, assessing as unconstitutional parts of the Bosnia’s Election Law which refer to the City Statute.

The court tasked the state Parliament in 2010 to amend the Election Law regarding the provisions which treat the electoral rules in that city but this did not happen to date and Mostar elections remain the subject of political disagreements, mostly of two main parties in this city, the SDA and HDZ BiH which signed the deal.