Croatia's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday congratulated Mario Kordic on his election as the new mayor of Bosnia's southern city of Mostar.

The ministry said in a press release that it welcomes the successful completion of the first local elections in that city after 12 years and the establishment of the new city council.

Kordic is from HDZ BiH, the main ethnic party of Bosnian Croats, and a sister party of HDZ, which is in power in Croatia. During the 1992-95 Bosnian War the city was the site of fierce inter-ethnic and inter-communal fighting between Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats, and the city remains divided to this day.

“After 12 years, the residents of Mostar had an opportunity to elect their representatives in the city authorities. The international community, together with Mostar residents, also eagerly waited for this moment and attached great importance to it,” the ministry said.

“The successful implementation of the local elections has also fulfilled a segment of the political agreement between Croat and Bosniak leaders Dragan Covic and Bakir Izetbegovic respectively,” they added.

Covic and Izetbegovic are leaders of the country’s main Croat and Bosniak parties, HDZ BiH and SDA.

The local elections have not been held since 2008 because the two communities could not agree on election rules.

The ministry called on local political stakeholders to implement the other part of the agreement, which involves reforming election legislation.

“This will pave the way to the stabilization of political and social relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and improve its functionality as well as accelerate the country’s journey towards the European Union and NATO,” the ministry said.

Mario Kordic, the candidate of the HDZ BiH party, was elected the mayor of Mostar on Monday by a majority vote in the City Council.

Kordic had received the votes of 17 councillors in a third round, while 16 voted for Zlatko Guzin, the candidate of the SDA-led Bosniak Coalition for Mostar. Two councillors abstained.