The ministry welcomed the successful completion of the first local elections in that city after 12 years and the foundation of the new city council.
“After 12 years, the residents of Mostar had an opportunity to elect their representatives in the city authorities. The international community, together with Mostar residents, also eagerly waited for this moment and attached great importance to it,” reads the ministry’s statement.
The successful implementation of the local elections has also fulfilled a segment of the political agreement between Bosnian Croat and Bosniak leaders Dragan Čović and Bakir Izetbegovic respectively, reads the statement.
Croatia’s ministry calls on local political stakeholders to implement the other part of the agreement: to reform the election legislation.
This will pave the way to the stabilisation of political and social relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and improve its functionality as well as accelerate the country’s journey towards the European Union and NATO, the ministry says.
Mario Kordić, the candidate of the HDZ BiH party, was elected the mayor of Mostar on Monday by a majority vote in the City Council.
Kordić received the votes of 17 councillors in a third round, while 16 voted for Zlatko Guzin, the candidate of the SDA-led Bosniak Coalition for Mostar. Two councillors abstained.
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