Covic, who was nominated by the party presidency at his own insistence, received 283 of 544 votes. The other candidate, Bozo Ljubic, who was nominated by the party's Sarajevo branch, received 258 votes. Former party president Barisa Colak, who was nominated by the HDZ BiH Western Herzegovina branch, scrapped his nomination before the vote, saying his decision was the result of criticism to the effect that he had poorly led the party.
Ljubic today said that there had been 540 deputies accredited to the convention, while 544 voted, which meant that more than 100 percent of the accredited deputies took part in the voting, which he described as incomprehensible.
Ljubic said that preparations for the HDZ BiH election convention were also irregular, namely contrary to the party's statute book, as there were two lists of deputies, but it was not known which of them was official.
He said that there were some indications that there were unknown persons on those lists.
Ljubic added that during Saturday's discussion before the final election, a majority of candidates supported his nomination for party leader. "I feel as the winner of this convention of the HDZ BiH," Ljubic said.
He criticised Covic of promoting a policy which was anti-European and which was not future-oriented.
He also turned down Covic's call to lead the party together, describing the offer as frivolous and given to openly attract the sympathies of the public.
Ljubic called on his supporters in the HDZ BiH to continue performing their duties in party and state posts.
Covic was until recently the Croat member of Bosnia's three-man presidency but he was removed from that post by a decision of the international community's High Representative to Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, after he was indicted for white-collar crime.