The Battle for BiH is Being Waged in RS, Mijatović and Ramić Found the Recipe for Success

By Ernad Metaj

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According to various surveys, the Movement for the State in RS has the support of between 9 and 11 percent of voters. This data has worried the ruling SNSD, which also checked public opinion, as well as the opposition in RS, because it shows that the nationalist narrative that dominates the political scene of this entity is no longer the only recipe for success.

According to party and other surveys, SNSD currently has the trust of around 31 percent of voters, PDP around 20 percent, while SDS is below 15 percent. If the voter turnout from abroad is at the level expected by the Movement for the State, they could even reach SDS after the elections, which would drastically affect the change of the political scene in this entity. It is no longer unrealistic for the Movement for the State to be an important factor, if not decisive, for forming the government in RS, because apart from Petar Đokić's Socialists, other political satellites gathered around SNSD and PDP are in free fall, especially DNS.

News from the ground supports this, indicating that the ideologically pure part of the SNSD membership that followed Milorad Dodik into a story completely different from the one he is now promoting is not happy with Željka Cvijanović's candidacy for the BiH Presidency. There are people in SNSD who still believe in the idea of social democracy and living together in BiH, and they are considering supporting Vojin Mijatović for the BiH Presidency. 

This does not mean that Mijatović is among the favorites to win, but an increase in his rating would encourage political forces ready to move beyond the language of ethnic divisions. It may sound paradoxical at first, but the fact that SDS president Mirko Šarović, as a candidate for the BiH Presidency, is not someone who could unite the opposition, from whom SNSD plans to recover lost ground, also supports this thesis. According to many, the key lies not only with the dissatisfied and disoriented Nebojša Vukanović but also in the hands of the current mayor of Banja Luka, Draško Stanivuković.

The Movement for the State has already caused a political earthquake in RS. And not only that. The Movement for the State is also a slap in the face to policies in FBiH that still lack the capacity to understand, let alone lead, state-building policies. It is true that BiH can only be built on compromise, pure and healthy, devoid of personal interests and political frustrations where settling scores with political opponents is more important than the future of the country and its citizens.

BiH and peace in the country are, objectively speaking, threatened throughout its territory, not just in RS. Therefore, the idea of the Movement for the State is needed like rain for thirsty land, and in the FBiH region as well. The current gathering of the opposition around a common candidate for the BiH Presidency could follow this path, but only on the condition that we do not replace one civic-oriented member of the BiH Presidency with another. For this, and for something more, it will be necessary to prove sincerity in relations between ideologically different partners, in which Vojin Mijatović and Edin Ramić, vice-presidents of SDP and SDA, have succeeded in the RS region. The story about changes to the Election Law is a warning from which, it seems, not everyone has yet learned a lesson, because they tried to break the sails of the Movement for the State in RS. Fortunately, they did not succeed.

The Movement for the State in RS is a dam against the final division of BiH and the political disappearance of Bosniaks and Croats in one part of BiH's territory. However, at its full capacity, it will only make sense if its representatives in the National Assembly of RS also include people from the Serb nation, and everything indicates that they are on the right track. As such, the Movement for the State will certainly become a force that will silence all politicians in FBiH who want minority representatives to be merely a democratic decoration. In this regard, the move by DF in TK, where they showed that the current president of that canton's assembly, Žarko Vujović, does not need to go to Banja Luka to be the list leader, is important. The Movement for the State is a hope that in the future, human values and individual qualities will be more important than one's name, and even the political option to which one belongs.

Therefore, it is important for as many BiH citizens abroad as possible to register to vote by July 19 and cast their vote for the changes that the Movement for the State brings.