The presidency's chairman, Serb Nebojsa Radmanovic, said that Kukic had mustered the highest number of points in a secret evaluation of the candidates conducted by the presidency. Before the presidency's session, Zeljko Komsic of the Social Democratic Party, who fills in the position of the Croat representative in the presidency, and Bakir Izetbegovic of the (Bosniak) Party of Democratic Action (SDA), said they would support Kukic's nomination.
Radmanovic said he was in favour of Borjana Kristo of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). The third candidate was Mladen Ivankovic Lijanovic nominated by his NSRzB party.
University professor Kukic, a member of the SDP's Development Council, however, stands slim chances of being endorsed by the parliament as premier-designate due to the unclear situation about a governing majority in the lower house of the state parliament.
His nomination should be supported by at least 22 MPs in the 42-seat House of Representatives and must also be supported by entity majorities from the Croat-Bosniak entity and the Bosnian Serb entity, which now seems unlikely.
Two HDZ parties -- the HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990 - have announced that their deputies will not vote for the premier designate proposed by the SDP-SDA coalition, which also includes minor Croat parties. Also, leading Bosnian Serb parties announced their opposition to Kukic's candidacy.
Those three candidates -- Kukic, Kristo and Ivankovic -- are Croats as there is general agreement that the new Bosnian premier should be a representative of the Croat people.