Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07SARAJEVO443
2007-02-23 16:01:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Sarajevo
Cable title:  

BOSNIA: FEDERATION PRESIDENCY CONFIRMED; STATE

Tags:  PGOV BK 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6289
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHVJ #0443 0541601
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 231601Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5531
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUFOAOA/USNIC SARAJEVO PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SARAJEVO 000443 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR FOR DICARLO, EUR/SCE FOR HOH, FOOKS AND STINCHCOMB, NSC
FOR BRAUN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2017
TAGS: PGOV BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: FEDERATION PRESIDENCY CONFIRMED; STATE
HOUSE OF PEOPLES STILL IN LIMBO


Classified By: DCM JUDITH B. CEFKIN, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SARAJEVO 000443

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR FOR DICARLO, EUR/SCE FOR HOH, FOOKS AND STINCHCOMB, NSC
FOR BRAUN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2017
TAGS: PGOV BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: FEDERATION PRESIDENCY CONFIRMED; STATE
HOUSE OF PEOPLES STILL IN LIMBO


Classified By: DCM JUDITH B. CEFKIN, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (SBU) At its February 21 session, the Federation House of
Representatives confirmed the appointment of Borjana Kristo
of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ-BiH) as Federation
President and Spomenka Micic of the Party for BiH (SBiH) and
Mirsad Kebo of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) as Vice
Presidents. On Thursday, the Federation House of Peoples
confirmed the slate, thereby opening the door to naming the
full Federation government. Nevertheless, the process of
standing up the government is likely to be prolonged, given
the continuing power struggle between the two main Croat
parties, HDZ-BiH and HDZ-1990. There is no deadline to form
the new government.


2. (C) The situation with respect to the constitution of the
State House of Peoples remains unresolved. At the vote on
February 22 in the Federation House of Peoples, last minute
defections from key parties produced a surprise result on the
both the Bosniak and Croat votes. On the Bosniak side, there
were two competing slates -- one proposed by SBiH and the
other by its coalition partner, SDA. The two parties failed
to unify behind one slate because of SBiH President Haris
Silajdzic's insistence on supporting the candidacy of Social
Democratic Union (SDU) President Sejfudin Tokic (a virulent
opponent of SDA President Sulejman Tihic and Silajdzic's
chief attack dog during the constitutional reform debate last
year). SDA successfully outmaneuvered SBiH, by having one of
its delegates vote for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) HoP
candidate (the main opposition party). As a result, the
Bosniak lineup in the State House of Peoples will be four SDA
delegates and one SDP delegate -- a far more favorable
outcome than one lead by Tokic, as seemed likely in the weeks
prior to the vote.


3. (C) The vote on the Croat delegation also featured a last
minute surprise, with one of the members of the "Croatian
Togetherness" coalition led by HDZ-1990 casting his vote for
an HDZ-BiH candidate. As it stands, there will be two Croat
delegates from HDZ-BiH, one from HDZ-1990 and one from the
Croatian Party of Rights (HSP),which is also a member of the
"Croat Togetherness" coalition. The vote for the final seat
resulted in a tie, which will be broken by a drawing at the
office of the Central Election Commission. The date of the
drawing has yet to be announced, but likely will take place
in the next week to ten days. The members of the "Croatian
Togetherness" coalition were visibly upset by the outcome of
the vote, having once again been outmaneuvered by their
nemesis, Dragan Covic, President of HDZ-BiH.


4. (C) COMMENT: Although painfully slow, progress at last
seems to have been made in forming a Federation government.
Nevertheless, the coalition remains fragile. As it stands,
the two HDZ parties still are holding up the creation of the
Federation government because of a continuing inability to
agree on the distribution of ministries. Meanwhile, the
coalition between SDA and SBiH continues to show cracks --
the "surprise" support from SDA for the SDP State HoP
candidate is the clearest proof to date that the alliance
between SDA and SBiH is not rock solid. On balance, the
lineup in the State House of Peoples is looking favorable for
passage of legislation on key USG reform priorities, but if
"Croat Togetherness" manages to snag the fifth Croat seat,
that could mean an uphill struggle for passage of some key
legislation, not least constitutional reform. END COMMENT.
MCELHANEY