March 1 (SeeNews) - The upper house of the parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Federation said it had elected Lidija Bradara, representative of the Croat constituent people, new president of the entity.
The House of Peoples also elected Refik Lendo from the Bosniaks and Igor Stojanovic from the Serb people as vice-presidents of the Federation, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Bradara has 30 days to propose a new government of the entity. She is replacing Marinko Cavara, who has held the position since 2015.
The president and vice-presidents of the Federation are proposed and elected by the parliament of the Federation for a four-year term. Members of parliament vote on one or several joint slates composed of three candidates including one candidate from each constituent people.
According to the US-brokered Dayton peace agreement that put an end to the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, the country is divided into two entities - the Serb Republic (mostly populated by ethnic Serbs) and the Federation (majority populated by Bosniaks and Croats), covering 49% and 51% of the country's territory, respectively. The Brcko District, functioning under a decentralised system of local government, was created in 2000, out of land from both entities to reflect its multi-ethnic nature.
The Federation and the Serb Republic have their own governments and parliaments and are linked by a weak central government. The Federation is divided into 10 cantons with their own governments and parliaments. An international overseeing body holds the supreme authority in the country.