Bosnian PM Urged to Quit by Bosniak Party :: Balkan Insight

Elvira M. Jukic

The SDA leader, Sulejman Tihic, said that Bosnia's State Prime Minister, Vjekoslav Bevanda, should step down on the grounds that SDA ministers put him into office, and he is now trying to remove those same ministers from the state government.

He was referring to Bevanda's statement that two SDA ministers should go, following the collapse of their party's coalition with the Social Democratic Party, SDP.

?He has to form a new parliamentary majority and ask for a new mandate,? Tihic said of Bevanda on July 16 in Sarajevo. ?He has to resign".

The SDP-SDA coalition fell on May 31, when SDA members of the State Parliament refused to support the 2012 budget. Afterwards, the SDP leader, Zlatko Lagumdzija, asked Tihic to withdraw his ministers.

When Tihic refused to do so, Lagumdzija officially asked Prime Minister Bevanda to dismiss them.

MPs will declare their hand on the issue on Thursday when sessions of both chambers of the State Parliament are scheduled.

?The SDA will do all it takes, according to the law, to prevent this undemocratic attempt to dismiss our ministers,? Tihic pledged.

He also spoke about the ongoing talks of the seven main parties in Bosnia on how the 2009 Sejdic-Finci ruling should be implemented.

The European Court of Human Rights ruling told Bosnia to change its constitution to allow members of ethnic minorities to run for the top posts.

These are currently reserved for members of the country's three constituent ethnic groups, Bosniaks [Muslims], Croats and Serbs.

The SDA has said it does not support the proposals of the SDP, which are also backed by the party's new coalition partners, the Aliance for a Better Future, SBB, and the two main Bosnian Croat parties.

The SDA said these proposals would harm the country - and benefit the two autonomous entities, the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The SDP wants the three members of the State Presidency to be elected by the Parliament on the suggestion of the two chambers, the House of Peoples and House of Representatives.

According to that solution, one member would indirectly be chosen from the Republika Srpska and two from the Federation entity.

But the SDA objects to the idea, saying it would effectively divide the Bosniak-Croat Federation into two zones, Bosniak and Croat, in terms of power in the elections.

Source: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosniak-party-calls-state-pm-to-resign

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