DISCRIMINATION HDZ-STYLE: 'Illegitimate Croats' Were No Obstacle for Lidija Bradara's Candidacy, But They Were for the Election of State Delegates

(Patria) - HDZ BiH candidate Lidija Bradara for president/vice-president of the Federation of BiH said that five delegates in the Club of Croats belonging to the parties of the eight, i.e., those not coming from parties gathered around HDZ and HNS, are illegitimate. However, when the list for her candidacy was being signed, the signatures of five „illegitimate delegates“ did not bother her, so out of the required 11 signatures, she had 22, except for one HDZ delegate who did not attend the first session. In the Club of Croats, SDP has Marina Mujkanović, NIP has Silva Banović, ZNG has Damir Marjanović, NES has Tanja Šantić, and from BPK Berin Fejzić.  

Speaking about the election of state delegates at the session of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament on Friday, Bradara very precisely presented the HDZ's position, which is not only discriminatory but also very dangerous for future relations within the coalition that committed to changes to the Election Law, which is one of the first demands of Dragan Čović and HDZ.

„We had the election we had. HDZ has 14 delegates in the House of Peoples of FBiH. What the election of delegates for the House of Peoples showed is that again we do not have legitimate representation, and it was obvious and now it is visible that those illegitimate representatives elected from areas where Croats practically do not even live significantly influence the election of delegates for the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, and we got the result we did”, Bradara said.

We remind you, three delegates of HDZ BiH (Dragan Čović, Marina Pendeš, Zdenko Ćosić), one of HDZ 1990 (Ilija Cvitanović), and one from the movement For new generations, Zlatko Miletić, were elected to the Club of Croats of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. Media close to HDZ have introduced the practice of “proving illegitimacy” by listing the names of Zlatko Miletić's parents next to his name.

The discrimination carried out by HDZ and its officials is apparently acceptable to the parties that agreed to the agreement with HDZ, as there have been no reactions to the views of the HDZ member and candidate for president of FBiH.

How dependent the parties around SDP are on HDZ was also shown by the drama with signatures for the candidacy of Igor Stojanović for president/vice-president of FBiH from the Serbian people. Stojanović first confirmed to the media that he did not have the necessary signatures, only to say a few hours later that HDZ called him on its own initiative and signed his candidacy. He received 13 signatures and the list was sent to the CEC for verification.

Although High Representative Christian Schmidt imposed changes to the Election Law and the Constitution of FBiH on election night, which enabled HDZ absolute rule in the Club of Croats and a blockade of processes in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, even that is not enough for them to stop discrimination and the distribution of "certificates" about regular and irregular Croats. 

(A.V.)