In an interview with N1, academic Esad Durakovic said Wednesday evening that he sees little chance for local elections in Bosnia to change anything because the people are uninterested in them, citing the example of celebrations of US President-elect Joe Biden's victory in Sarajevo.

“People in Sarajevo celebrated Biden's victory in US elections but at the same time they're uninterested in the victory of their own parties,” Durakovic told N1's Amir Zukic, adding that “we now have parties that have been the bearers of inertness for over 25 years – that's a quarter of a century and a very long period of one's life.”

But the problem is not in the political elites, he said.

“The problem is in the voters themselves – the people acting unaware, like a herd, I dare say, which is uninterested in their own fate,” the academic said.

Speaking of the US presidential election, Durakovic said Bosnia must seize the opportunity to use him as the country's proven friend.

“Biden proved to be a friend of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he has shown that he is a realistic and objective politician and that is why we who support Bosnia should see in him an extraordinary opportunity that should be seized, but we shouldn't expect him to call us and ask what he can do for Bosnia. We need to build that opportunity through diplomatic channels and capitalize in favour of Bosnia, which means changing the Dayton Peace Agreement or upgrading it,” Durakovic noted

The Dayton Peace Agreement has ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and part of it – Annex 4 – is the country's Constitution which subdivided it along ethnic lines into two entities, 10 cantons and a district. This division left the country with a very weak central government and a tripartite Presidency consisting of three constituent peoples – Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.

Speaking about the large number of migrants residing in Bosnia, Durakovic said he has enormous empathy for them, but most of them are coming from countries not engulfed by war.

“Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Muslim world, are stationed in Bosnia. I fear a terrorist attack could be staged in the framework of Islamophobia which would create an argument against you and me and Bosniaks who have nothing to do with it, aimed at disintegrating the country,” the academic concluded.