The assembly of the Presidency of the Alliance for a Better Future has finished, at which it was decided by secret ballot that SBB will not have its own candidate for a member of the Presidency of BiH and that they will support the joint candidate of opposition.

The address of the president of SBB, Fahrudin Radončić, has ended.

- Today, as we announced, we held a session of the SBB Presidency, where we made two important decisions. The first is that we go to the polls on our own as a political party, and the second is that we have returned to the story that SBB and I have been advocating for months - that a united opposition should have one candidate. There was some kind of ambiguity that the people from the „trojka“ said that two candidates from the „trojka“ could win that race, so they, in the meantime, corrected themselves and came to a common candidate and in that sense we decided that the opposition goes with one candidate and that this candidate has our absolute support.

I think it is important to note that this creates completely different predispositions for a kind of very important outcome in BiH and that this outcome opens space for new winds, especially when it comes to Bosniak politics. Thirdly, very importantly, it is not about any inclination, but about whether SBB, if it points out its candidate, if other political parties do the same, helps the SDA candidate to lead BiH for another eight years, that is, to be precise , leads the Bosniak political corps. Our assessment is that after 30 years it is time for new people to take responsibility and we ask a very logical question, we know what Mr. Izetbegović did in the eight years of his last political term in the Presidency of BiH: Should he be given eight more? Without any harsh words, based on a cold assessment, our assessment is that this should not be done and that the opposition has a great chance to win when it comes to electing a member of the Presidency. We made the decision by secret ballot, 14 members of the Presidency were in favor, four against, two abstained - said Radončić.

We expect elections to take place

When asked by journalists to comment on the current situation with the financing of the elections, Radončić said:

- The rules cannot be changed when the referee has determined the start of the match. It is very important that we have a visit of such a person to Sarajevo tomorrow, but we need to be realistic, nothing new can be agreed there, the CEC called the elections according to the old rules and they should be held like that. The problem of money should be viewed in the same context. Money must be found and I am sure that, with all the tensions of the HDZ, this, after all, must not be a problem. We expect the elections to take place and that is why we are preparing for that.

Journalists asked if Bakir Izetbegović's new victory is realistic and is it time for new faces in politics.

- The idea that we, as the opposition, give one candidate will make people in the SDA very nervous, not to mention Mr. Izetbegović. Because, when you take the results of the last elections and the big theft at the expense of SBB, Mr. Bećirović can count on an extraordinary 350 to 400 thousand votes, when the campaign of all parties that will give public support to this man on Saturday unites and when we go together. I think that this kind of our decision significantly affects the SDA election campaign, which has so far had the commodity that with some other institutions, not to mention their name, can deal with vote manipulation, so they transfer them to Mr. Komšić, that now and people in the SDA ask if there is more room for that. I don't think there will be space, but it is ours to run the campaign and we will work together, a new political story is being made, that political story may seem, although there is an unimportant individual, as one big unification of the opposition which will now be the first step, a candidate of a common type, and another to form a post-election coalition based on the achieved result of each political entity.In that sense, we are very optimistic and you will see, it will be a very powerful picture on Saturday. As for limiting the mandate, I am a supporter of the need for the US concept, that no one in the Presidency can be longer than two mandates. Political practice shows that the longer someone is in the Presidency, that results in the detriment of democratic trends in that community, nepotistic, clientelistic and other connections are made, and I am the first to limit the number of mandates - said Radončić.

SBB makes a great sacrifice for not having its candidate

When asked by journalists, Radončić also referred to the fourth candidacy of Željko Komšić.

- I said that somewhere, maybe even for your television. Mr. Komšić served three full terms as a member of the Presidency. Don't be biased. Citizens know whether BiH has gained more international friends during his 12 years in the Presidency, received more economic investments from abroad, gained better interethnic relations between Croats and Bosniaks or not. I personally think that it is not right that no one needs 16 years, it is unnecessary, it is not right that the same person is sitting there, I do not deal with the character and work of Mr. Komšić at all. I believe that another candidate would relax relations. We, of course, have the right to nominate candidates as a society and Sarajevo as a city that are not HDZ candidates. In that sense, we need to maintain that pluralism, but let's see who achieved the result in 12 or 8 years and what that result is.

Asked if there were any other new names within the party, Radončić said:

- We had a very serious discussion about that. And SBB makes a great sacrifice for not having its candidate for the Presidency because it is known that the candidate for the Presidency strongly pulls the party and it always makes a better result. We, I think, both Mr. Konaković and Nikšić made that sacrifice to find a third name at the cost of our weaker results. But in the end, I think that the citizens will recognize that it was a very serious choice and that we, as a party, are already, of course, working on the candidate lists, in some consultations. Our lists must be very strong, there must be many new faces, there must be personalities with reference. Let that personalities show you that Sarajevo, as the capital of BiH and the Federation, and RS, can be a better economic field. 

And we will constantly insist on our economic program, development program, calming interethnic and inter-entity tensions, and in that sense we must contribute as a political project to the emergence of new faces on the BiH political scene. We talked about it, there will be pleasant surprises, I am not afraid at all that SBB will make a great election result. You know, on the eve of every big election, they declare us a dead political project, and when everything is over, no one can form a government without SBB, and I am completely sure that we will make an even better result in a new group of political parties.