The leader of the predominantly Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Bakir Izetbegovic, has invited the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) to continue cooperation and form together a new government based on the results of the 2 October general election, Croatian state agency Hina said on Friday.

Speaking in an interview with the FTV television channel, Izetbegovic said that it would be “a dangerous experiment” if the HDZ entered into a coalition with the parties that had until now been in the opposition.

Izetbegovic was heavily defeated in the race for the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His rival, Denis Becirovic from the Social Democratic Party, won 100,000 votes more than the SDA leader.

Although the SDA is the single strongest party both in the country and in the Bosniak-Croat Federation entity, its coalition potential is limited because it is confronted by a united bloc of 11 opposition Bosniak-majority and civic parties that can muster the necessary majority to secure control of the state and entity parliaments.

The HDZ’s position will be crucial, because this largest Bosnian Croat party is now in the position of kingmaker, Hina said. HDZ can now choose partners on the Bosniak side, and Izetbegovic said he saw no reason why his SDA would not be among them.

“I think HDZ will eventually remain in a coalition with the SDA, rather than experiment with the 11 parties. I assume it will be hard for HDZ to decide on venturing into such an experiment and setting a precedent by ousting a large national party,” Izetbegovic said.

He said that the SDA’s relegation to the opposition might one day return like a boomerang and “hit another large national party,” which, he added, would be “a dangerous experiment”.

Izetbegovic said that the SDA and HDZ BiH had actually had very good cooperation in the past years and had done “a lot of good for themselves and for the country.”

“We, of course, had certain disagreements over their demands concerning the status of Bosnian Croats, which in my opinion were unrealistic and impracticable,” the SDA leader said, referring to failed negotiations with the HDZ to change the election law.

The Central Election Commission is due to announce the final results of the general election by 3 November, when the makeup of the state and entity parliaments will be known. Most parties have decided to wait for the final results before entering into coalition talks.