HDZ and SNSD Attack BiH Sovereignty Through Election Boycott

Written by: Ernad Metaj

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A video of HDZ President Dragan Čović from several years ago, filmed in Switzerland, confirmed a clear and planned intention to create a third entity through the Election Law and constitutional changes. 

- We want to use these temporary decisions and solutions regarding the Constitution precisely as a weapon to ultimately get our own entity, our own federal unit, and what it will be called is a lesser problem. It is important that it has executive, legislative, and judicial power, that is the basis of everything. What it will be called in Bosnia and Herzegovina no longer means anything, Čović said.

HDZ has never softened its stance from then until today. Čović persistently plays for all or nothing, which refutes the clumsy attempts by the President of Republika Srpska, Željka Cvijanović, from last night, who favors an agreement that can only be reached if all parties are flexible. Two things indicate that Cvijanović is not sincere. First, the blockade of state institutions by Serb representatives, which has disrupted dialogue, because if she were sincere, dialogue should only take place within institutions. Second, and perhaps even more importantly, pointing the finger exclusively at Bosniaks as the unreasonable party because, in her opinion, they rely on the support of the international community. 

SNSD benefits from HDZ's policy. The third entity fits perfectly into the narrative of an "independent RS within BiH". The territorial integrity of BiH is not in question, but Cvijanović publicly challenged the sovereignty of BiH last night. As expected, the narrative is being pushed that the OHR is undermining it by imposing decisions, which is merely an excuse for the concrete and dangerous intentions of those who ultimately see the loss of sovereignty as a path to the final loss of territorial integrity, which, translated into normal language, means the disintegration of BiH.p>

A step towards disintegration is the boycott of elections. It was first announced by HDZ, and soon after by SNSD. Wise Croats have never been as open as temperamental Serbs, so we learned from the SNSD president, Milorad Dodik, that it would not be a party boycott, as it proved unsuccessful in Serbia. According to Dodik's plan, SNSD and HDZ would, through elections, demonstrate that BiH lacks sovereignty, by showing that state authority is not superior to any other. For this, they would use municipal election commissions in areas where these two parties hold power. Their task would be to boycott the Central Election Commission so that elections would not be held at all in those parts of BiH.

After Dodik, media loyal to HDZ spoke about it, likely on orders and on behalf of the only legitimate representatives of Croats, developing Dodik's idea through recommendations. According to their calculations, elections would not be held in 30 municipalities in FBiH and in the entire RS. True, this thesis was partially refuted by the stance of the opposition in RS that they do not support an election boycott, which excludes the entire RS and reduces elections only to parts of BiH where Bosniaks are the majority. But the idea is important, and it is not planned on self-sacrifice but on the tried-and-tested method of abusing power and mandates obtained from citizens to block the functioning of state institutions.

The intentions of HDZ and SNSD are clear, the problem is that they are still being relativized by those who want to preserve the territorial integrity and sovereignty of BiH. To win, it will take much more than messages that elections must be held.

If they don't understand, the High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, does, as he sent a clear message: "an election boycott in BiH must not happen, it absolutely must not happen." There is a lot of concern in this statement because Schmidt knows what it means in practice. 

Schmidt said that the problem with the negotiations on changes to the BiH Election Law so far is that some people have an idea according to which "the election results should be enshrined in the constitution, even though citizens should decide on them."

Schmidt is wise, because boycotting elections has nothing to do with false concern for citizens' interests. On the contrary, we are completely sure that HDZ and SNSD would gladly participate in the elections, but to avoid the introduction of electronic voting, which was only declaratively not controversial for them before the international negotiators. That is why they also dislike the CIK because they have lost control over it, but they would overcome that because it can be compensated through the Municipal Election Commissions. If control over the elections is ensured, then the solution is constitutional and legislative reform that will predetermine the election results.