BiH: Konakovic survives another dismissal attempt, political crisis continues

The motion for Konakovic's dismissal was jointly submitted by the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and its ally, the Democratic Front (DF) led by Zeljko Komsic. They cited allegations that the current head of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s diplomacy is linked to organised crime and is causing harm to the country’s reputation through his actions.

Lawmakers from these parties reiterated these accusations during the House of Representatives session, but they failed to garner enough support. Only 15 MPs voted in favour of Konakovic's removal, while 18 opposed it. The House has a total of 42 members, but those from Milorad Dodik's Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) did not attend the session, despite the fact that it was their request last week that led to another discussion on Konakovic's dismissal, even though for different reasons.

At that time, SNSD representatives called for Konakovic's removal, alleging that he insulted Republika Srpska and conducted foreign policy without coordination with the BiH Presidency.

Today, lawmakers from three Bosniak-civic bloc parties, which are part of the ruling coalition, did not even engage in discussion regarding the SDA and DF's request.

"This is not based on facts but on assumptions and hypotheses, so it does not deserve any discussion," said House Speaker Denis Zvizdic, a member of the People and Justice (NiP) party, which is led by Konakovic.

The demands for Konakovic's dismissal are part of the ongoing inter-party power struggles in BiH following the decision of the Bosniak-civic "troika" to call for breaking the coalition with Dodik’s SNSD and forming a new government with opposition parties from Republika Srpska. This has triggered a political crisis that has lasted for weeks, with no immediate resolution in sight.

As a result, the "troika" and SNSD are now attempting to remove each other’s ministers from the Council of Ministers.

The Croatian Democratic Union of BiH (HDZ BiH) has decided not to support any dismissals, and party leader Dragan Covic is trying to preserve the current coalition, offering to mediate in order to stabilize the government and ensure progress on key legislation necessary for launching accession negotiations with the European Union.

"As far as we are concerned, the agreement on the parliamentary majority, which we reached two years ago, still stands," said HDZ BiH MP Marinko Cavara after the House session.