Benjamina Karić demanded that the list for Novo Sarajevo be created according to her wishes; Nikšić saved her from being expelled from the board

Written by: Amra Vrabac

Benjamina Karić became the Vice-President of the SDP BiH in 2019. At that time, she belonged to the party's organisation in Novo Sarajevo, and after she stopped attending meetings of the Municipal Board Novo Sarajevo, a decision was made to expel her due to absences. That decision of the Municipal Board was annulled by SDP President Nermin Nikšić, and Karić remained a member even though she continued to miss meetings.

Since she became Mayor of Sarajevo in April 2021, she has never come to her home organisation, although even then it was increasingly being said that Karić lives in the area of the Centar municipality, and she recently bought another apartment in Titova Street in the Centar municipality.

She had even changed her address of residence, only to return it to Novo Sarajevo in the spring of this year, when a narrow circle of people close to Nikšić, without the full consent of the Municipal Organisation, made the decision to nominate Benjamina Karić for the head of Novo Sarajevo.

However, precisely because of a certain rebellion expressed by this organisation, which won four council mandates in 2020 even though two councillors left the SDP, the party leadership created a so-called parallel structure. Thus, for almost all key decisions in Novo Sarajevo, Kenan Magoda, Adnan Šteta and Davor Čičić had the final say.

The Municipal Organisation Novo Sarajevo was supposed to suffer the same fate as the SDP in Novi Grad, with the leadership being replaced and the organisation taken over by people close to Nikšić. What ultimately decided that Samir Suljević remained at the head of the organisation was that he was an SDP representative in the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton, and every vote was needed for a majority.

When this organisation made a proposal for the list for the Novo Sarajevo Municipal Council, it was corrected precisely by Šteta, Magoda and Čičić. Benjamina Karić also had certain wishes, demanding for one candidate and a newly arrived SDP member a position among the first five places, threatening otherwise that she would not be a candidate for head of the municipality.

Such a revised list was adopted by the SDP bodies, that is, at an electronic session of the Main Board whose quorum is questionable. However, such interventions were allowed by Nikšić, and Benjamina Karić was accommodated. What followed afterwards shows that Benjamina Karić is indeed the candidate of the SDP, and not of the trio, no matter how much they tried to present it as a "joint story". There are no joint rallies, no support, especially not from Naša stranka, which was preparing Vildana Bešlija as its candidate. However, Karić, together with Nikšić, used her current position as mayor, and the SDP managed to impose its proposal.

The billboards we see in Novo Sarajevo with Benjamina Karić smiling have also caused a revolt among the membership in Novo Sarajevo, and next to her are only selected party comrades.

And other billboards on which she appears with candidates from other municipalities and parties supposedly were not approved by anyone, and not all SDP candidates want to participate in her campaign.