The newly elected Croat member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeljko Komsic, said on Friday that although recent protests against his election were legitimate they would not put him off working in the interest of the entire country and its citizens.

Commenting on a protest rally attended by several thousand people in Mostar on Thursday night against his election to the country’s presidency, Komsic told the Sarajevo-based TV 1 television station that he considered the protest to be a legitimate way for citizens to express their opinion, because it was held in accordance with the law.

According to the results of Sunday’s general election, with more than 99 percent of the ballots counted by Friday, Komsic won the support of almost 220,000 voters, while his main rival for the Croat member of the presidency, Dragan Covic of the HDZ BiH party, received about 140,000 votes or 34 percent of the vote.

Komsic added that now that ballots have been counted, “HDZ BiH and everyone else has to come to terms with the fact that Dragan Covic is no longer a member of the state leadership,” telling the incumbent HDZ BiH leader that he would personally see to it that Covic did not return to the presidency “for some time” yet.

“Tension is being fomented without any real reason, and I don’t know what the HDZ BiH is trying to achieve with its messages. If this is some sort of pressure related to the forming of the government, then it’s pointless. If it’s goal is future talks about amending the election law, or the constitution – then again, it’s futile,” Komsic said.

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