It is the first time since the signing of the Washington Agreement in 1994, under which ten cantons were established in the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that another Croat party, the HDZ BiH, is not represented in a cantonal government. The HDZ BiH is now in opposition.
The new government was appointed after the international community's High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Miroslav Lajcak, issued a strong warning that any parties and their officials obstructing establishment of a cantonal government would be severely punished.
The HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990 had wrangled for ten months over who would be the next head of cantonal government, with each party insisting that it won the election and therefore was entitled to the prime ministerial post.
In May this year, the Office of the High Representative fined the two leading Croat parties and two leading Bosniak parties, the Democratic Action Party (SDA) and the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, for failure to reach an agreement on a prime minister-designate and a new government in the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton. Despite the fines, no agreement had been reached until today when Lajcak again threatened to impose harsh penalties.