Haris Silajdžić

Haris Silajdžić (Bosnian pronunciation: [xaris silajdʒitɕ]; born 1 October 1945) is a Bosnian politician and academic who served as the 5th Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2006 to 2010. He was the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1993 to 1996, and previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1993. He is Bosnia and Herzegovina's longest-serving head of government since the Yugoslav era.

Silajdžić was born in Breza in 1945. He graduated in Arabic language and Islamic studies at the University of Benghazi in Libya, and then earned his master's degree and doctorate from the University of Pristina. He entered into politics in the early 1990s, serving as Bosnia and Herzegovina's Minister of Foreign Affairs and later as Prime Minister during the Bosnian War. In the height of the war, Silajdžić was one of the most influential Bosnian officials and a close ally of the country's first president of the presidency, Alija Izetbegović. From 1994 until 1996, Silajdžić served as the first Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After his term as Federal Prime Minister ended, he was appointed Co-chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997, serving until 2000.

In the 2006 general election, Silajdžić successfully ran for a seat in the Bosnian Presidency as a Bosniak member obtaining nearly 63% of the vote, defeating incumbent Sulejman Tihić. Silajdžić served as member until 2010, after losing his bid for re-election in the 2010 general election, only finishing in third place.

Originally, a prominent member of Alija Izetbegović's Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Silajdžić left the SDA in 1996 to establish the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH). As both president of the SBiH and Presidency member, he took part in many constitutional reform talks, most notably in those regarding the 2006 April package, a compromise proposal for constitutional amendments which included, among other things, an individual president indirectly elected by Parliament, as opposed to being directly elected by popular vote. Silajdžić's decision for his to party to vote against the proposed package proved to be crucial for the amendments' ultimate failure. Silajdžić served as SBiH president until retiring from politics in 2012, amidst the party's rapidly declining popularity.