Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the SDA party and participant of the EU/US-mediated talks on electoral reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said he would not succumb to pressures in the negotiations.
Izetbegovic said he was “threatened” by the international community's representatives and reminded that his father – former and late Chairman of the Presidency of BiH, Alija Izetbegovic, had to make some “painful” things and so will he have to make some unpopular steps that will lessen the SDA's result in the upcoming elections.
The SDA leader noted that he would not accept that. He also said that Dragan Covic, the HDZ BiH leader, will have to pay for what he did and give up on many strongholds he now has in the Federation, the Bosniak-Croat shared entity.
He also said it is necessary to improve the relations between the two peoples which, according to him, Covic ruined with his support to Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb leader.
“We must fix the relations with the Croats in BiH, we used to be one nation, after all,” said Izetbegovic.
He noted that Covic is blaming the left-leaning parties for electing the Croat Presidency member with votes of the Bosniaks, adding that he is not sure this is true.
Izetbegovic said that the SDA and him are now being called out to solve this problem they have nothing to do with.