Crisis after election in Bosnia and Herzegovina
After the presidential election in Bosnia and Herzegovina the president of the Republika Srbska, Milorad Dodik, has won a seat on the country's three-person presidency. The Bosnian Serb nationalist wants the Serbs to secede. Željko Komšić, a moderate who is controversial in Croatia, is taking Dragan Čović's place as the representative of the Croats. Commentators take a closer look at the two politicians.
State could collapse
Tine Kračun, director of the Institute for Strategic Solutions, voices his concern in a guest commentary for Delo:
“It's dangerous for a politician who has long called for the state's demise to have a seat on the Presidency. Until now this body has remained moderate and is considered a pillar of the joint state. But now someone with other goals in mind has come to power. With the support of Russia and Serbia on the one hand and Croatia on the other, which is also actively intervening in Bosnian politics, the coming years could see the state's collapse.”
Slap in the face for Croatian government
The election of Željko Komšić should be interpreted as a protest vote against the politicians of the HDZ, writes Novi list:
“It is not [the current leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina party, HDZ BiH] Dragan Čović who has lost in these elections but [Croatia's prime minister] Andrej Plenković. The propaganda on Croatian state-run television, the billions from the Croatian budget, the cross-border unity of the HDZ and the reciprocal visits between Zagreb and Mostar were all for nothing. ... Željko Komšić did not win thanks to the votes of the Wahhabi, as Plenković and Čović would have the people believe. His election is a slap in the face for the HDZ's catastrophic policy vis-à-vis Bosnia and Herzegovina which has gone on for a quarter of a century now.”