Denis Beqirović, a professor of history from Tuzla, is the first opposition candidate in Bosnia and Herzegovina who managed to defeat Bakir Izetbegović in the elections, who inherited the main positions in the SDA party and in the state from his father Alija, who was also not defeated in the elections.

Beqirović (46) appeared as a joint candidate of several parties united in the United Bosniak Opposition Front and with a large margin of votes defeated the opponents Bakir Izetbegović from SDA and Mirsad Hadžikadić from the State coalition in the race for Bosniak representative in the collective presidency of BiH.

- We won. We won convincingly and the united opposition has a member of the presidency of BiH. I thank all those who voted for me. I also thank those who did not vote. All that is part of democracy in BiH - said Beqirovic.

He called the citizens for unity, and the European Union "as soon as possible to grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina".

– This is not the time for any euphoria or triumphalism. I want to remind all disadvantaged and poor people in BiH. Because of them, I am telling everyone that only when they celebrate, then we will have something to celebrate - said Beqirović. He also sent a message to the region, noting that "any destabilization will return the region to the Middle Ages."

Izetbegović admitted the defeat and complained that it was a consequence of the imposed changes in the Electoral Law that "strengthened the position of the Croatian Democratic Union in BiH".

- The whole problem is in the association encouraged by foreigners - said Izetbegovic, but noted that SDA "achieved a good result, better than in the previous elections".

According to the incomplete results of the elections, Beqirović won 57 percent of the votes, and Izetbegović 38 percent. The Croatian member in the collective presidency of BiH will continue to be Željko Komšić, who as a candidate of the Democratic Front won 54 percent of the votes, defeating Borjana Kristo from HDZ BiH. The Serbian member, in the position previously held by Milorad Dodik, will be his party member from the Union of Independent Social Democrats Zeljka Cvijanovic, who won 53 percent of the votes.

Dodik without competition

Dodik expects to return to the presidential post in Republika Srpska, although his opponent Jelena Trivic also declared victory a few hours after the polls closed. The Central Election Commission, based on 82 percent of the counted votes, announced that Dodik won 48,8 percent of the votes and has an advantage of 30.399 votes over Trivic.

The citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina cast ballots into many ballot boxes the day before yesterday. Apart from members of the Presidency, they also voted for representatives in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for deputies in the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for members of the assemblies of ten districts in the Federation. In Republika Srpska, on the other hand, votes were cast for representatives in the National Assembly, for the president and for two vice-presidents. The ballots listed the names of more than 7.200 candidates from 90 parties and 38 coalitions, as well as 17 independent candidates.

Due to the huge number of different ballots, their counting takes place slowly. Based on 62 percent of the votes, the SDA will have the most deputies in the BiH Federation, which won 25 percent of the votes, ahead of the HDZ BiH with 19,4 percent. The Social Democratic Party of BiH, of which Beqirović is a member, won 12,4 percent of the votes, and the movement led by Komšić won 9,5 percent.

Dodik's party will retain its majority in the Republika Srpska assembly. SNSD won 42 percent of the votes, ahead of the Serbian Democratic Party with 19 percent and the Party of Democratic Progress with 11 percent.

Schmidt imposed new election rules

But the biggest chaos was caused by the high representative of the international community, Christian Schmidt, who announced changes to the Constitution on the very night of the election and imposed previously unannounced changes to the electoral law related to the structure and functioning of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH and the way of making decisions. , in favor of the representatives of the Croatian entity.

- For the fate of this country, it is crucial that there is no more blockade. That's why I imposed measures that will improve the functionality of the institutions in the Federation of BiH - said the office of the high representative, with the remark that "the decision does not affect the implementation of the election results".

Schmidt explained that with his decision he increased the number of representatives in the federal House of Peoples, which allows for "the distribution of mandates in such a way as to correct the overrepresentation of each of the three constituent nations in some districts." For the first time in the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, persons who do not declare themselves as members of the constituent nations of all counties can be represented. These decisions should prevent the paralysis of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the elections.

According to the changes imposed by Schmidt, the federal House of Peoples will consist of three parliamentary groups of constituent nations, which instead of the current 17 will have 23 representatives each, while the parliamentary group of representatives of national minorities will have 7 representatives instead of 11.

The qualified majority for nominating the president and vice-president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be 11 instead of the previous six representatives from the national parliamentary groups and in this way an obvious advantage is given to the representatives coming from parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a Croat majority. If a proposal is not accepted by 11 MPs, then the qualified majority of the proposers will be reduced to seven and then to four MPs. The previous rule that six representatives constituted a qualified majority for nominating the holder of executive power opened the possibility for Croatian representatives elected to the House of People from the list of civil and Bosniak parties to also receive this controlling package, which caused great dissatisfaction in the parties of ethnic Croats.

Schmidt emphasized that the electoral reform must continue and that he will personally participate in it.

- This is not and cannot be a broad reform of the electoral law that has yet to be implemented - said Schmidt.