The leader of the Bosniak centre-right Democratic Action Party (SDA) Bakir Izetbegovic said, in an interview with N1 on Wednesday night, that he had very casual conversations with the leaders of the Eight, apart from the leader of People and Justice (NIP). He said that the SDA "will not block the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina" entity, that it will support the Eight and the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), but that it will not give up the fight for what is provided by the Constitution and the law, as well as that it will not betray its voters.

Izetbegovic pointed out that they are the number one party in terms of the number of votes won and therefore the strongest party, and that he will give the HDZ BiH time “to understand” that. He revealed that Milorad Dodik, the newly elected Republika Srpska (RS) President called him three times, but that he did not want to go to him, nor to Covic for talks.

When asked by N1’s Amir Zukic to explain how the SDA has the most votes at the state level, but they are the opposition, he said that was the result between the Eight (the broad coalition of eight parties who agreed to form the government and push the SDA out from the state and FBiH level) and the SNSD and HDZ BiH.

“That's where they agreed [to form the government]. As Dodik said, that Serbs and Croats will decide who will be in power. They will not be able to do that in FBiH. If Dodik was still there [in the FBiH] with all his strength, they could probably force us out of there as well, as they did at the state level”.

The Eight say they can outvote the SDA?

“Let everyone do what they can. There are normal things and relationships that are founded on the Constitution and the will of the people and the voters. Those who don't follow that and refuse to do so, who don't see things clearly and force them, are the ones actually creating blockades and problems.”

HDZ BiH leader Dragan Covic says that you signed the “legitimate representation” in Mostar?

(The term “legitimate representation” is something the HDZ BiH calls on whenever they talk about losing the seat at the BiH Presidency, even though such a thing neither exists in the Constitution nor the Election Law).

“I did. We need the legitimate representation of Bosniaks in the RS and in the House of Peoples. Kemal Ademovic [the Eight’s candidate for the BiH House of Representatives Deputy Speaker] does not need Serbs and Croats to elect him. Dodik said that Serbs and Croats will decide which of the Muslims, as he said, will be in the government. And this is what our hero ‘Kemo’ Ademovic allowed himself. He could not have imagined that he would experience such humiliation from the ‘Troika’ [the Social Democratic Party – SDP, Our Party – NS and NIP]. He is a wartime hero. If you had told him a year ago that he would nominate himself and that all Bosniaks would be against him and that Croats and Serbs would elect him and that they would allow it, he would not have believed it. I congratulate them on that and on their trips to Laktasi [to meet Dodik] and Mostar [to meet Covic]. Where Covic ordered them who is not allowed to come, and Dodik told them how the government will be formed. He does not call them [the Eight] Bosniaks but Muslims. I was invited to come to Covic after all and to Dodik in Laktasi, but I refused both. If I go to them, and we have state institutions – then we have nothing else to talk about”.

Why does only Zeljko Komsic's Democratic Front (DF) want to be in a coalition with you?

“If Komsic and I have 440,000 votes more than all other eleven parties, How can you say ‘only’ the DF? It is the patriotic core that does not allow amendments to the Constitution and the Election Law to be made at the expense of the pro-Bosnian forces, and for state property to be looted. They [the Eight] will not be with us because foreigners who are dissatisfied with such behaviour of the DF and SDA have hinted to them that they will bring them in to take over everything covered by the SDA. A huge political loot appeared and they failed to resist it.”

Can other parties represent Bosniaks?

“Of course, they can, but what if this other component votes for the SDA? the NIP has three and a half times fewer votes than the SDA and they are already falling behind. They have been working for four years to reach 75,000 votes.”

Not everyone who voted for the SDA voted for you as a member of the Presidency, is that a message that they want the SDA, but not you?

“I didn't understand it that way. [Former SDA member who passed away] Sulejman Tihic won the elections, I did twice, Sefik Dzaferovic [also from the SDA] won once. We make-up 34-35 percent of that Bosniak voting body. This time I got 38 percent, the maximum score. I think that this time it was because people strongly voted for Komsic out of fear of the Čović-Dodik combination in the Presidency. I alone reached 214,000 votes, and [Denis] Becirovic [who won the seat for the Bosniak Presidency member] had the support of 11 parties. Not even the strongest man can wrestle 11 men. The Croats will stay together until the position of the Presidency is resolved the way it suits them, then they will start fighting each other for it. But they won't solve it within six months. Now the fights begin, first with Dodik and then with Covic.”

Will you block the work of governments at different levels?

“We will never harm this country, we will only fight for respect for the Constitution and the law. If things are not done according to the Constitution and the law, those who don’t work according to the Constitution and the law will be the ones blocking the work of institutions”.