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.

Silajdžić was born in Breza in 1945. He earned his master's degree and doctorate from the University of Pristina. During the Bosnian War, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1990 to 1993, and later as Prime Minister. 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, Alija Izetbegović. From 1994 until 1996, he 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 was elected Bosniak member of the Bosnian Presidency. He served as member until 2010, after losing his bid for re-election at the 2010 general election. Originally, a prominent member of Alija Izetbegović's Party of Democratic Action, Silajdžić left the party in 1996 to establish the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH). As both president of 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 served as SBiH's president until 2012.