STATUTE A DEAD LETTER ON PAPER: Helez supported Nikšić remaining at the helm of the SDP and compared him to Izetbegović, Čović and Dodik

(Patria) Although he was considered one of the most serious candidates to take over the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zukan Helez ultimately supported the idea that Nermin Nikšić remain at the head of the party, which will be decided upon by the SDP Congress on July 5.

Helez is one of the vice-presidents of the SDP, but by his own admission, he was not present at 80 percent of the meetings due to his obligations as Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

„They agreed at the meetings to extend Nermin Nikšić's mandate until 2026. Nothing is disputed. If everything is in accordance with the acts, the delegates will decide in the end. They can also annul it and say we are going to elections, because the Congress is the highest body. The Congress, as they say on the 5th, will be held. Nermin Nikšić should remain until 2026 because he is the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is leading those processes,“ Helez said in the show Istraga sedmice on Hayat TV.

That Helez does not really know the Statute of his party or is not too interested in its provisions is also shown by the continuation of his statement.

„When I think about it, Nermin Nikšić has been in this position the least of these presidents. Bakir has been there longer, Dodik twice as long, Čović twice as long,“ Helez said, comparing the SDP with other parties and their presidents.

This comparison by Helez showed that the SDP has long lost the democracy in its name if from so many members they cannot elect a new president but depend on one man and a handful of his associates who run the entire policy of the SDP. It is no secret, and SDP Presidency member Besima Borić recently spoke about it, that all decisions are made by a narrow circle of people gathered around Nikšić.

"They invented some Collegium, which does not exist in the Statute, it is a few people, the president, vice-presidents, and sometimes they call someone to those meetings and everything seems to be agreed there. And that Collegium is the only one that knows everything and has the sole right to propose changes. We as the SDP have no need for such a way of working. The Main Board has 110 members, do people know who these people are. They are all people who operate in their communities. Give them a chance to be heard, to be seen," Borić said in the Oslobođenje Podcast.

Helez apparently forgot that according to the current Statute, the president of the SDP can have two consecutive terms, which expired for Nikšić in 2022. At the Congress in June 2023, his mandate was already extended for two years. And now the same scenario is being prepared.

According to information from Patria, some municipal organizations do not want to delegate delegates to the Congress, expressing protest to the SDP leadership over non-statutory work and the extension of Nikšić's mandate.

At least one municipal SDP organization from Sarajevo will not elect delegates, and problems also exist in other organizations.

Thus, SDP Stari Grad had no delegates at the last Congress in 2023 either, when Irfan Čengić publicly rebelled that the SDP Statute was being violated and did not even participate in the work of the Congress.

Nor will SDP Stari Grad elect delegates for the upcoming Congress, and Čengić is a member of the Main Board and is a delegate by function but will probably not appear.

The Main Board of the SDP stated in its decision on holding the 9th Congress that delegates should be elected from SDP members who have distinguished themselves in their previous work as well as in pre-election activities.

Of the 870 delegates, 696 should be elected by municipal/city organizations, and 174 delegates are ex officio (President of the SDP, members of the Main Board, Supervisory Board and Statutory Board, member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, representatives in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, deputies in cantonal assemblies, representatives of the SDP in the executive branch at all levels.)

Although the Main Board of the SDP previously established the agenda of the 9th Congress, which also planned the adoption of a decision on calling elections for the President of the SDP BiH, this does not have to happen at the Congress at all.

The plan, well-informed sources claim, is for a handful of Nikšić's closest associates to gather a critical mass of delegates at the Congress who will, on their proposal, again extend Nikšić's mandate. According to the statements we hear, even from Nikšić himself, it is clear that July 5 will not bring any change in the SDP.

Nikšić has repeatedly said that according to the Statute he can no longer be a candidate for president, but contrary to the Statute, in June 2023 he agreed to have his mandate extended, and he will do the same now.

It is interesting that, for example, Denis Bećirović, who is also a vice-president of the SDP, does not comment on these events. However, since he entered the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bećirović has not appeared at party meetings.