In 1990 as Bosnia was preparing to secede from Yugoslavia, he was elected to the Bosnian parliament and became a leading member of the Bosniak-dominated Party of Democratic Action.

The Bosnian parliament, already vacated by the Bosnian Serbs, formally declared independence from Yugoslavia on 29 February and Izetbegović announced the country's independence on 3 March.

That is what I am proposing," he said, in an address Tuesday to the Bosnian parliament on the state of political and military negotiations.

At the same time, after the elections, the Serbs must pay obeisance to a central Bosnian parliament and presidency, in a country shared with the Muslim-Croat Federation.

In 2006, his brother, Jerko, was elected to the Bosnian parliament.

HNZ and Muslim Nation Organization formed a coalition which ruled the country from 1911 until the dissolution of the Bosnian parliament in 1914.

The assembly undertook to address the achievement of equality between the Serbs and other peoples and the protection of the Serbs' interests jeopardized by decisions of the Bosnian parliament.

On 6 March the Bosnian parliament promulgated the results of the referendum, proclaiming the republic's independence from Yugoslavia.

He spoke of conditions for "successful elections" and foresaw the world nurturing a Bosnian parliament and courts.

In 1990, Izetbegović and others founded the Party of Democratic Action, that became the main Bosniak party in the Bosnian parliament.