Boriša Falatar

Falatar was born in Sarajevo on 6 June 1975, and was raised in a mixed Croat and Bosniak household. His parents are Miljenko Falatar, a mechanical engineer, and Dženana Balagija, a government economist related to both Džemal Bijedić and Nurija Pozderac, notable Bosnian political leaders.

Falatar attended elementary and secondary schools in Sarajevo. He graduated from the American University in Paris, France, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Economics. He continued his postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics, where he studied with professor Fred Halliday, and earned his master of sciences degree in Economic Development and International Relations. His master's thesis was on complex humanitarian emergencies, using Sarajevo as case study.[3]

Later on, Falatar attended Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government as a Mason Fellow, where he studied with Professors Ronald Heifetz, Marshall Ganz, Ricardo Hausmann, Michael Porter and others.[4] Falatar earned his Master of Public Administration degree, and was elected class graduation speaker.[5]

Boriša Falatar started his career as a humanitarian worker during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the siege of Sarajevo, as a 17-year-old, he operated a radio system which permitted thousands of citizens of Sarajevo to connect to the outside world. In 1993, Falatar joined the United Nations Protection Force, working with the Argentinean battalion. After finishing his post-graduate studies, Falatar joined the International Committee of the Red Cross. He led humanitarian protection activities in the Huambo province in Angola, providing humanitarian aid and reuniting kidnapped children with their families. Following the killing of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi, Falatar negotiated with the Angolan government the reintegration of rebel UNITA soldiers.[6]

He returned to United Nations as international civil servant in charge of UNESCO's relations with member states. From 2008 to 2011, Falatar worked at UN Headquarters in New York, representing UNESCO in the UN General Assembly, ECOSOC and the Security Council. He then was UNESCO's Coordinator for Crisis Response, overseeing humanitarian and development operations in South Sudan, Libya, Syria, Iran and Palestine.[7] He was member of cabinet of UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova at the time when she was a candidate for the position of the UN Secretary-General. Falatar was also in charge with relations with Israel and Palestine.[8] Over a ten-year period, he advised five Presidents of UNESCO's General Conference.

After the election campaign, Falatar joined the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

After announcing his candidacy on 21 April 2018, Falatar started a listening campaign across the country, meeting with people from different economic, social and ethnic backgrounds. He calls his approach "Open hands politics", using the imagery from the medieval Bosnian-Herzegovinian monuments stećci.

Falatar campaigned as a pro-European socio-liberal candidate, whose foreign policy priorities are EU membership, strong regional relations with neighbouring countries, and economic diplomacy with major economic powers.[9] During his campaign, he visited the European Parliament, and was supported by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

Falatar came fourth in the election which took place on 7 October 2018. Although he was not elected, the visibility of the Falatar campaign helped Naša Stranka to quadruple its number of votes, and quadruple its number of elected representatives compared to the previous elections. As a result, the Naša Stranka formed a coalition government in Sarajevo on 26 December 2018, appointing a Prime Minister and two Ministers.

Following elections, Falatar campaigned for political reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its closer integration in Europe.[10]