Šefik Džaferović

Šefik Džaferović (born 9 September 1957) is a Bosnian politician who served as the 7th Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2018 to 2022.

He has been serving as member of the national House of Peoples since 2023.

A high ranking member of the Party of Democratic Action, he was formerly its vice president and general secretary.

Džaferović was born in 1957 in the Bosnian town of Zavidovići in the former Yugoslavia, modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He went to a Gymnasium in Zavidovići.

Džaferović graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Sarajevo in 1979.

Before entering politics, he worked in judicial institutions.

After that, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Sarajevo in 1979.

In 1996, Džaferović was appointed member of the Federal House of Peoples.

Džaferović worked in judicial institutions and for the police department in Zavidovići and Zenica until 1996.

In 1996, Džaferović was elected to the council of Zenica-Doboj Canton.

In the same year, he became a delegate in the Federal House of Peoples.

Four years later, he entered the national House of Peoples.

In 2000, he became a member of the national House of Peoples.

At the 2002 general election, Džaferović was elected to the national House of Representatives, and served as its member until 2018.

At the 2002 general election, he became a member of the national House of Representatives.

At the 2014 general election, Džaferović was re-elected for a third time to the national House of Representatives with 30,000 votes.

While in the House of Representatives, he served as its chairman on multiple occasions.

From 2018 until 2022, Džaferović served in the Bosnian Presidency as its Bosniak member, having been elected at the 2018 general election by a narrow margin.

Following the 2022 general election, he once again became a member of the national House of Peoples.

Džaferović announced his candidacy in the Bosnian general election on 26 May 2018, running for Bosnia's three-person Presidency member, representing the Bosniaks.

At the general election, held on 7 October 2018, he was elected to the Presidency, having obtained 36.61% of the vote.

The Social Democratic Party candidate Denis Bećirović, was second with 33.53%.

In the first month of his presidency, Džaferović had problems with Serb member Milorad Dodik, Chairman of the Presidency at the time, with Dodik stating he would not attend the first Presidency session under the new leadership until the flag of Republika Srpska, the entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was put in his office.

Dodik eventually relented, agreeing to hold the session with only the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 20 March 2020, Džaferović became the new Presidency Chairman for the following eight months, succeeding Croat member Željko Komšić.

After the eight months passed, on 20 November 2020, he was succeeded by Dodik as chairman.

On 22 May 2021, Džaferović and Komšić attended a military exercise between the United States Army and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina on mount Manjača, south of the city Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Milorad Dodik refused to attend it.

On 20 March 2022, Džaferović once again succeeded Komšić as Chairman of the Presidency, according to the principle of rotation.

On 16 November 2022, Džaferović was succeeded by Denis Bećirović as the Bosniak member of the Presidency.

As the COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina started in March 2020, the Presidency announced Armed Forces' placement of quarantine tents at the country's borders intended for Bosnian citizens returning home.

Every Bosnian citizen arriving to the country was obligated to self-quarantine for 14 days starting from the day of arrival.

Tents were set up on the northern border with Croatia.

On 2 March 2021, Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić came to Sarajevo and met with Džaferović and other presidency members, Komšić and Dodik, and donated 10,000 dozes of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three days later, on 5 March, Slovenian president Borut Pahor also came to Sarajevo and met with Džaferović, Komšić and Dodik, and stated that Slovenia will also donate 4,800 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for the pandemic.

On 22 March, in an interview for Federalna televizija, Džaferović stated: ""Bosnia and Herzegovina does not lack behind other Western Balkans countries in the process of immunization of the population against COVID-19, with the exception of Serbia...We have already started this process, albeit with vaccines from donations from several sources, and I thank everyone who helped Bosnia and Herzegovina at a time when we could not get the vaccines.""

This statement was met with heavy backlash by opposition parties in the country, with Our Party commenting on Džaferović's statement: "With disinformation, Džaferović is trying to take away responsibility from himself and his party."

Nermin Nikšić, president of the Social Democratic Party, replied to Džaferović: "With his statement that our country does not lack behind the region in vaccination, Džaferović showed that he does not differ from his party "boss" Izetbegović [Bakir Izetbegović] or Prime Minister Novalić [Fadil Novalić]."

Nikšić ended with saying that "according to official statistics, we are at the bottom of the list in terms of the COVID-19 vaccination rate, behind Rwanda, Cambodia and Zimbabwe."

Džaferović's statement also encountered a series of witty and original reactions on social media platforms.