Where there is no agreement between SDA and Party for BiH, Čampara will have the final say

(Patria) - The constitutive session of the Novi Grad Municipal Council has not been concluded, because the two parties with the most mandates did not keep their word.

Namely, according to the pre-election agreement of the so-called "Sarajevo Response", i.e., the bloc of parties SDA, SBiH and DF, in Novi Grad, the Party for BiH provided a candidate for mayor, while the position of Council Chairperson was supposed to go to SDA.

Tensions between SBiH and SDA in Novi Grad were already one of the biggest obstacles to the functioning of the coalition. First, the local SDA, led by Adnan Efendić, tried in every way to push through its candidate, and after the party bodies decided that this was not possible, rumors circulated that Adnan Efendić was directly campaigning against Semir Efendić, all in cooperation with Aljoša Čampara.

That things are not functioning is clear even today, when Adnan Efendić insists at all costs on having Haris Alihodžić as head of the Novi Grad Council. SDA's Efendić refuses to compromise because Alihodžić is his loyal cadre, and according to information from Patria, this is the reason why everything got out of control.

SDA candidate Haris Alihodžić was supported, besides his party colleagues, by People and Justice (NiP) and the SDP. On the other hand, Nezir Hadžić was supported, besides SBiH councilors, by DF according to the coalition agreement. Those familiar with the events in the Novi Grad Council say that this outcome is a consequence of the pre-election agreement between Adnan Efendić and NiP to support Mirza Selimbegović as the candidate for mayor, so NiP is now returning the favor.

We unofficially learn from the Party for BiH that they have no problem with the chairperson being someone from SDA; they even offered that it be Kenan Kolašinac, the elected list bearer of SDA, or someone else from the SDA club. This was an insurmountable problem for Adnan Efendić, who pulls the strings within the Novi Grad SDA, and that is why today's session was unsuccessful.

Shortly after the unsuccessful session, the public witnessed a statement from SDA Novi Grad, which, among other things, says: "Although it is clear that the agreement was fulfilled by SDA, unfortunately, it turned out that cooperation with SBiH was not based on respect for the agreement, but on political calculations aimed at deceiving partners, as was shown today at the Constitutive session of the Municipal Council, where SBiH proposed its candidate for Council Chairperson, Mr. Nezir Hadžić, and SDA, following the earlier agreement, proposed its candidate, Mr. Haris Alihodžić. The voting results showed that Alihodžić had 14 votes and Hadžić 12 votes, while four ballots were invalid. Given that the outcome is clear, cooperation with the Party for BiH has once again brought great disappointment and distrust in future agreements."

It is obvious that personal interests and animosities have once again prevailed over political dialogue in the patriotic bloc, but what is certain is that voters of both parties, as part of the broader bloc, expect responsibility and seriousness.

Primarily due to the fact that political brokers are already active in the interim space. Aljoša Čampara, NiP's political operative, according to our information, is already negotiating about the coalition capacity in Novi Grad, after the councilors of Our Party remained on the sidelines in today's tug-of-war between SDA and SBiH.

It remains to be seen what the reaction of the Cantonal Committee and the top leadership of the Party of Democratic Action will be, because it is quite clear that in the local organization of that party in Novi Grad, the final say is held by cadres for whom the priorities of citizens, the municipality, the state, and ultimately the party, are not the most important.

And where there is no agreement between the Party for BiH and SDA, Aljoša Čampara will have the final say. In that case, the leaderships of SDA and SBiH must answer why they deceived voters in the local elections.

(R. Be.)