SDA Opens Up Well: Zero Serbs, Zero Croats, Zero Others, Zero Youth, and 1 Woman Elected!

By Amina Čorbo-Zećo

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"Silence there, if anyone is not interested in this Report, they can go for coffee or go outside," were the words of the new/old President of the Party of Democratic Action, Bakir Izetbegović. This order was accompanied by an angry expression on Izetbegović's face, and more than 1,000 people applauded! It sends shivers down your spine.

Izetbegović's and SDA's politics are essentially the same, "if you don't like the situation in the party, leave it," "if you don't like the situation in the country, leave it," "if you don't see 100,000 jobs, look closer," "if we don't like the actions of individuals, you will be expelled."

In fact, the situation is such that in the democratic SDA, democracy has been defeated, which is reflected in the fact that we have one candidate for the leader of SDA. The basic democratic postulate has been violated; others were neither elected nor ultimately had the right to be elected. Perhaps the Court in Strasbourg would have work to do in this case, something like the "Sejdić-Finci" ruling.

The announcement of the SDA congress for days was heading in the direction that this party is opening up to young people, women, and non-Bosniak people. The summary of the congress at the end looks like this: nine deputy presidents, of which 0 Serbs, 0 Croats, 0 others, 0 youth, and 1 woman!

The only voice of reason and a glimmer of hope was offered by Šemsudin Mehmedović in his public address, although support from colleagues was lacking. Some agree with him, but also believe that the infamous Declaration is quite radically formulated because it does not define with which political subjects and partners the goal will eventually be achieved.

"We all wish that BiH one day becomes a country for all people who consider it their own. We have problems with the policies of our neighbors. The goals in this declaration are set very high and radically, will we achieve them? I am skeptical given the political crisis in BiH and the absence of political factors that consider BiH their own," said Mehmedović.

A high-ranking SDA official says in a whisper that his impression is that the majority at the congress thinks like Mehmedović, but as if they are intoxicated by the SDA president. They think, he says, of the late Alija Izetbegović and feel fear of the unknown. They fear the unknown, while the citizens of BiH fear the known! The known, because in his last speeches, the first president of RBiH mentioned those who rule today in a negative context, as if he had foreseen them. He spoke of injustice, which today is felt more by those who fought for BiH than by anyone else.

Mehmedović warned that one candidate is a disastrous solution for the future of SDA.

"Fear is being generated among the party membership; everyone knows where the problem is and the focus of the problem, but no one has the courage to say it. I spoke about it last time. With these amendments to the statute, which also contain good solutions, the last amendment is a copy of AK Party, perhaps even HDZ solutions. It is a complete concentration of power in the president; it is a presidential system," Mehmedović stated.

Izetbegović did not respond to Mehmedović, but if new forces do not emerge soon that realistically assess all of SDA's disastrous policies, which are eroding its own body through such actions, the sentence from the beginning of the text will not be needed; the membership will simply say, "there is a way out."