SDP members raise their voice: We must say enough to the party's downfall, Nikšić, call for presidential elections!

(Patria) - News agency Patria received a letter from SDP BiH members, analyzing the party's situation, games surrounding the election of a new president, and calling on members to take action. The letter is signed by Nermin Alihodžić, representative of the non-statutorily dissolved SDP BiH Novi Grad Sarajevo Municipal Board.

"WE CALL on all true SDP members, all genuine social democrats, to raise our voices and stop the processes that have already been initiated and are leading our party to ruin and disappearance. Let us, SDP members, stand up and say ENOUGH - because there is no one else!

Namely, it has become more than obvious that Nermin Nikšić is once again playing the 'naive French maid' game and trying to deceive us members, in order to perfidiously secure another two years in office as the head of the largest party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. All sorts of contortions and combinations can be heard in the last month, and one of them is that he should remain at the head of the party until the end of this year. Nikšić wants everything, except for the party bodies to function, for elections for a new president to be called, for statutory provisions to be respected. Because by respecting the Statute, instruments would be activated that create the possibility for dialogue within the party, and then he would be asked not-so-pleasant questions and a demand to report on his work so far, the results achieved in the last local elections, and there would be many other things to ask.

All these are normal activities in all normal parties, so it should be the same with us, shouldn't it? But it seems it is not.

Not so long ago, Nermin Nikšić stated in an appearance on a television show on December 14 last year, we quote: 'If you think there is a critical mass, sit down and talk, and then we will see.' And what will we see? We will see Nikšić remain SDP president for another two years and continue to lead it to ruin and downfall.

The question here is who are 'you'? Can 'you' decide on anything, even on this important issue, while bypassing party bodies? Are those 'you' who meet in cafes and, together with Someone, conduct state and personnel policy? Are those 'you', a few suspicious characters, who issue press releases and present themselves as some kind of Collegium, a body that the SDP Statute does not recognize at all and no one has ever heard of it before Someone? Is Someone calling that cafe gathering 'you'? By the way, it seems that this practice from the party with the Collegium has now been extended to the Government, because we hear about some kind of narrow Collegium within the Government. We really wonder if our Law, Rulebook, or any internal act by which the Government operates recognizes this institute?

Someone's ten-year rule has left devastation in the institutional and organizational sense within the SDP. Party bodies have simply been wiped out, they don't exist. As if a tsunami passed through the SDP, but it wasn't a tsunami, it was our Someone. The Main Board has not met for years, and the party Presidency has not been convened. City, municipal, cantonal organizations are not functioning, because the situation from the top of the party has spread to the lower level.

What is surprising and worrying is the silence of the party's vice-presidents and general secretary regarding this situation. Where are you, vice-presidents, general secretary, and numerous parliamentarians, you who have been sitting in institutions for twenty years and doing little or nothing, while receiving your salaries regularly? Why don't you speak out? Silent observation and inaction mean approval of this situation. You have a moral obligation to protect the party and point out irregularities if they occur. But you have buried your heads in the sand. Because you are silent, the SDP membership will no longer wait for someone among you, comrades, to speak out and defend the statutory provisions. We, the members, will stand up in defense of the Statute. You should be ashamed of such behavior!

You have betrayed the idea of social democracy. While Someone's planted cronies, upstarts of the SDP, led by the Hadžić couple, were destroying the largest SDP Municipal Organization Novi Grad Sarajevo, which had achieved the best results among all Municipal Organizations in the Sarajevo Canton in the last General Elections, other Municipal Organizations watched silently, probably fearing they would lose the petty benefits that individuals received from Someone. But after Novi Grad, it was the turn of Novo Sarajevo, which now exists without the right to vote. Then the Municipal Organization Centar, which is as important in the current decision-making processes as last year's snow. Then Ilijaš, Hadžići, and so on, one by one, all organizations fell silently, so as not to, God forbid, offend Someone. And Novi Grad Sarajevo's only sin was that we stood up in defense of the principles of social democracy and publicly condemned the criminal activities of individuals within their ranks.

The execution, approved by Someone, followed, and the result was the collapse of this Municipal Organization, an attempt at non-statutory expulsion of six of its members, and a catastrophic electoral result in the recent local elections. Mostar suffered the same fate, where Zalihić was a problem, so you satisfied President Žuljević and Prlić, and we know what a poor electoral result this Municipal Organization achieved. Have they been held accountable and faced consequences for this? No, and they clearly won't be.

Because of this policy, we also lost Gračanica, Jablanica, Maglaj, Ključ, Gradačac in the local elections. It is superfluous to even talk about Tuzla, as a bastion of social democracy. In Tuzla, the worst result in history was achieved in the recently held local elections.

Let's also mention Besima Borić, an SDP heroine, a synonym for social democracy, our comrade who experienced being dragged through court with Someone's semi-literate associates and defending the civilizational achievements of equality for our mothers, sisters, daughters. Nikšić, you should be ashamed of what you have allowed.

Mr. President, with a handful of people like yourself, you have stolen the SDP from the SDP members, annulled and suspended the Statute in practice, and now you have let Vojko talk about leaving the SDP if you don't remain party president. That story of yours no longer works, Someone. Not with us ordinary members. And you, Vojin Mijatović, feel free to leave the SDP if you are in the party because of Someone, and not because of the idea of social democracy and everything that the SDP inherits in its long history. It is sad that you are even speaking up, you whose work results the citizens of Republika Srpska gave their opinion on in the last elections. And you said it well in one of your podcast appearances, we quote: 'What is relevant are the SDP elections and the votes of SDP members.' Well done, Vojin, we finally agree on something. Be one of the candidates for future party president, enter the contest, and let us finally see your strength at the grassroots. Stop with empty populist talk.

Comrades, members of the SDP, the idea of social democracy is important for every country, and it is a counterweight to right-wingers, nationalists, radicals, conservatives because it dulls and weakens their retrograde actions for any society, including ours. Every country and nation without a strong center-left party is doomed to failure in advance. Therefore, SDP members, it is no longer five to twelve, it is already twelve and five in the SDP, and it is time for us to stand up and say - ENOUGH!

Nermin Nikšić, party members DEMAND that you schedule a session of the Main Board and that a Decision on holding elections for the future President of the SDP be made there. After the elections are held, the Congress should be convened. This is the only correct way to respect the statutory provisions and elect the best and most capable among us. Otherwise, if you do not do this, the membership will take steps in that direction.

And one more thing, we know that you have a Presidency session scheduled for today, February 6. Therefore, you, the members of the Presidency, be principled for once and bring these issues up publicly today and face the truth, because otherwise, we will consider you responsible for the current catastrophic situation within the party. Fix it before it's too late!"