B. IZETBEGOVIC ELECTED AS SDA VICE-PRESIDENT

SARAJEVO, Dec 27 (Hina) - Bakir Izetbegovic, the son of Alija Izetbegovic, a former chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina's presidency and the founder of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) , on Saturday was elected as one of four vice-persidents of the the party, which his father founded in 1990 and led unitl his death this October.#L# At Saturday's election convention, Bakir Izetbegovic won a landslide victory. His rival for this post, Faruk Mekic, little known in political circles, was nominated by the SDA president and the Bosniak (Muslim) member of the country's collective presidency, Sulejman Tihic. Although he is one of the four SDA vice-presidents, Izetbegovic is believed to be the most influential one because of his political connections and the fact that he will be the link between the SDA branches on the ground and the party leadership. Immediately after the death of his father, rumours appeared that Bakir Izetbgovic would eventually take the helm of this Bosniak party. According to he speculations, the incumbent SDA leader Tihic had no real chances of remaining at the helm of the party. Addressing the gathered at the convention in Sarajevo, Tihic said he had no intention of stepping down and warned that anybody who would work on divisions in the party would lose the battle. He went on to say that in the last year the SDA managed to remain in power although neither international community nor local media were in favour of it. He said the SDA would continue developing into a popular centre party with multi-ethnic characteristics. The SDA chief voiced hope that the Dayton peace accords would certainly be changed in the coming period so as to further strengthen Bosnia-Herzegovina as a state. (Hina) ms