"We have to begin talks on a new parliamentary majority already next week," said Sulejman Tihic, president of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), which has won mayoral positions in at least 34 of the 138 municipalities.
Speaking to Banja Luka's Nezavisne Novine daily, Tihic said he had already talked with HDZ BiH president Dragan Covic and that a joint meeting of representatives of all influential parties would be preceded by bilateral meetings on the new parliamentary majorities on the state and Federation levels.
"The local election results don't determine only who will be mayor or councillor but also who has the legitimacy to represent citizens," said Tihic. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Alliance for a Better Future tried to oust his SDA from the Council of Ministers and the Federation government.
SDP official Damir Hadzic told Dnevni Avaz that the SDP, despite a decline in voter support, would not give up "the reshuffle we have embarked on. We will do everything to complete the job, as we have launched serious reforms because of which we have been punished in part" in Sunday's elections.
The president of the Serb Democratic Party, which won voter support in most municipalities in the Bosnian Serb entity, said it would take a few days "for the dust to settle" after the "political quake"
caused by the elections. "After that it will soon be crystal clear if there is and who makes a parliamentary majority on the state level," said Mladen Bosic, adding that everything would be clearer after the next sessions of the state parliament's lower and upper houses.
The HDZ BiH will discuss the election results on Friday, when a decision could be made on who it and the HDZ 1990 will form coalitions.