Bakir Izetbegović

Bakir Izetbegović
24th, 27th, 30th and 33rd Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 March 2018
Prime Minister	Denis Zvizdić
Preceded by	Dragan Čović
In office 17 March 2016 – 17 November 2016
Prime Minister	Denis Zvizdić
Preceded by	Dragan Čović
Succeeded by	Mladen Ivanić
In office 10 March 2014 – 17 November 2014
Prime Minister	Vjekoslav Bevanda
Preceded by	Željko Komšić
Succeeded by	Mladen Ivanić
In office 10 March 2012 – 10 November 2012
Prime Minister	Vjekoslav Bevanda
Preceded by	Željko Komšić
Succeeded by	Nebojša Radmanović
7th Bosniak Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 November 2010
Prime Minister	Nikola Špirić Vjekoslav Bevanda
Preceded by	Haris Silajdžić
President of the Party of Democratic Action
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 September 2014 Acting: 25 September 2014 – 26 May 2015
Deputy	Adil Osmanović
Preceded by	Sulejman Tihić
Personal details
Born	(1956-06-28) 28 June 1956 Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia
Political party	Party of Democratic Action (1990–present)
Spouse	Sebija Građević
Children	Jasmina Izetbegović
Relatives	Alija Izetbegović (Father) Halida Izetbegović (Mother)
Residence(s)	Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Alma mater	University of Sarajevo

Bakir Izetbegović (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [bâːkir ǐzedbegoʋit͡ɕ]; born 28 June 1956) is a Bosnian politician. Since 2010, he is the Bosniak member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA).

Education and private life

Bakir Izetbegović was born in Sarajevo on 28 June 1956. He is the son of the first President of the independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović.

He attended primary and high school in Sarajevo and graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Sarajevo in 1981. From 1982 to 1992 Izetbegović worked as a consultant at an architectural consulting firm.

He made big contributions to many social activities – he was a member of the Management Board of the Sarajevo Football Club, a member of the Management Board of the Basketball Club "Bosna", of the Management Board Member of the Muslim Humanitarian Society "Merhamet" and member of the Council of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He is married and has one daughter named Jasmina. His daughter Jasmina, is in a relationship with Bosnian Serb named Gligor Zakarija Popović. Jasmina gave a birth to a baby girl in Amsterdam. Gligor added to his name Zakarija because of Bakirs political aspirations.

Political career

During the war he mostly hid in the central bank treasury vault. His father groomed him as his personal assistant to be the future Bosniak leader. Bakir Izetbegović entered politics in 2000 and after serving in two regional assemblies was elected to the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2006. In May 2015, he was elected as president of the Party of Democratic Action.

From 1991 to 2003 he served as director of the Construction Institute of the Sarajevo Canton. He became the Deputy Head of the SDA Caucus in the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton in 2000, a position he continued to progressively undertake at higher levels – at the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament from 2002 to 2006, and at the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2006 to 2010. He also became the Chairperson of the Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Izetbegović has been a member of the SDA Presidency since 2002 and a member of the party since its foundation in 1990. At the general election held in October 2010 he was elected as member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Bosniak people. In October 2014 he was reelected to the position. According to the BiH Presidency rotation system, Izetbegović took over as Chair of the BiH Presidency in mid March 2016.

In November 2017 Presidency member Bakir Izetbegović threatened with war if Republika Srpska opts for independence, and at the same time controversially said that Bosnia and Herzegovina should recognize the independence of Kosovo. On 22 November 2017 a discussion was held on the matter on the TV show Globalno of RTV BN.

First term presidency

In the 2010 general election Izetbegović was elected to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Bosniak member. Izetbegović came in first in a field of nine candidates with 35% of the vote. The runner up, Fahrudin Radončić, won 31% of the vote while incumbent Haris Silajdžić won 25%. remaining 9% of the votes cast.

Second term presidency

At the 2014 general election, Izetbegović won 247,235 votes, 32,8% of total. He was followed by Fahrudin Radončić 26,7% and Emir Suljagić 15,1%. Seven other candidates split the remaining 25% of the votes cast.

See also

• Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina