A new coalition took the Sarajevo Canton over from an alliance of left-leaning parties on Saturday in a move officials of the ousted parties declared illegal and announced a complaint with the Constitutional Court.
Following the October 2018 election, the liberal ‘Nasa Stranka’, the left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Democratic Front (DF), the Union for a Better Future (SBB), the Truth and Justice Party (NiP) and the Independent Bosnian-Herzegovinian List (NLB), formed a government in the capital which was dubbed ‘The Six’ and which some foreign officials hailed as a positive development in Bosnian politics.
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But then mid-December, two of the six parties left the coalition and reached an agreement with the country’s main Bosniak Party to oust the local government and form a new one.
The remaining four parties fought back and tried to outmanoeuvre the takeover but during an extraordinary session on Saturday the new coalition managed to obtain the necessary votes of 18 out of 35 MPs to take over.
Mirza Celik from the main Bosniak Party for Democratic Action was elected to serve as the new Chairman of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly at the session his party scheduled.
Former Assembly Chairman Elmedin Konakovic argued that the session was illegal, called it a private party and said he will complain to the Constitutional Court.
Konakovic argued that the session was never declared ‘urgent’ by the Assembly and that the points on the agenda that were discussed on Saturday were scheduled to be discussed on January 16.
