Following a meeting on Friday with the leaders of three parties from the pro-Bosnian bloc, which was part of the previous ruling coalition in BiH, Covic broadly confirmed that he was open to forming a new partnership, including an alliance with Serbian opposition parties. This would effectively exclude Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) from power.

Covic emphasised that the constitution and laws must be respected and that those acting against them could not be political partners, a clear reference to Dodik’s actions.

“What Dragan Covic is trying to do is his business… I never expected him to follow what we are doing,” Dodik responded.

He expressed his belief that Covic would now seize the opportunity to negotiate changes to the electoral law with the Bosniak side, adding that the Bosniaks would “have to give in.”

If it becomes clear, he said, that the outcome of such an agreement would guarantee Croats the right to elect their own member of the BiH Presidency, SNSD would support it, whether in opposition or in government.

“Regardless of how unpleasant we find what HDZ is doing now, we will vote for it because this is about the Croatian people, not HDZ,” Dodik stated.

He concluded that HDZ BiH had made the wrong choice by siding with the opposition, as the opposition does not govern Republika Srpska.

Dodik also argued that, given the current circumstances, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European path was an illusion, as Republika Srpska found the adoption of laws demanded by the European Commission unacceptable.