Parties Reach Power-Sharing Deal in Bosnian Federation

Five months on from the October general elections, the three main parties in Bosnia's Federation entity agreed on the formation of a new government.

The deal reached on Thursday between [Bosniak] Party of Democratic Action, SDA, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, and the [civic oriented] Democratic Front, DF, outlines basic details of the distribution of 16 ministerial seats in the Federation government.  

According to the agreement, the SDA will have the post of Prime Minister and each of the three parties will hold five ministerial seats.

The last ministerial position will be named by the HDZ but with the approval of the SDA and the DF.

"One 'mutual' ministry is the Ministry of Finance; all three parties will agree on the name," SDA chief, Bakir Izetbegovic, said.

"Each of us had to swallow a bitter pill, but the most important thing now is that the process is unblocked," the leader of the DF, Zeljko Komsic, remarked.

The President of Federation, Marinko Cavara, who will nominate the new government, said he hoped to get the names of the ministers on Friday. Other party leaders said the new government could be confirmed by next week.  

The apparent breakthrough in the Federation entity will also potentially unblock confirmation of the state-level government, called the Council of Ministers.

The three ruling parties from the Federation are expected to be joined in that by the group of Bosnian Serbian opposition parties, the Alliance for Changes.

Many local and international experts and officials expressed scepticism, suspecting that after months of quarrels and delays, the apparent breakthrough could yet go awry.

One other concern is that even if they are established, the new governments will be...