HMS: Why is the HDZ BiH leadership "sawing off the branch" they are sitting on?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - If it does not want to render meaningless the fight for the principle that Croats are represented by those whom Croats elect and lose credibility among its own voters, the leadership of HDZ BiH must start respecting and applying that principle itself, writes Hrvatski medijski servis.

And that means respecting the will of its own people, its own voters, expressed in the last elections and in the Hercegbosanski Canton. Whose assembly, precisely because of the disrespect for the will of Croatian voters, within HDZ itself, not due to the fault of someone else, has not elected a new cantonal government, a year and a half after the elections. Which is shameful.

Six out of eight HDZ deputies in the HNK Assembly, elected by Croats, want the mayor of Tomislavgrad, Ivan Vukadin, to be the new cantonal prime minister. The Cantonal Board of HDZ ZHK insists that Ivan Jozić, the current prime minister in a technical mandate, be appointed. Instead of respecting the will of the majority of elected representatives, the HDZ leadership supports the position of its Cantonal Board, and punishes three of the six representatives, including Vukadin himself, whom, I repeat, Croats elected, by temporarily expelling them from the party for 30 days, to force them to comply with the will of the minority and the party leadership.

What should the temporarily expelled Ivan Vukadin, Robert Bagarić, and Ante Tadić from HDZ BiH do now? Disregard the proclaimed principles of their own party so that the party lifts their suspension? Accept that the candidate for cantonal prime minister is someone who is not supported by any of the party's elected deputies, whoever they may be? Isn't it absurd and unreasonable to ask them that?

The leadership of HDZ BiH, whoever constitutes it, in the case of the decision on suspension, by punishing three out of six deputies with temporary expulsion from the party, presumably wanted to send a message to the remaining three that they should accept the decision or they will also be expelled. However, they did not accept this unreasonable demand. If they had, they would have trampled on their own self-respect and dignity.

In addition, they would have helped the "HDZ leadership" to completely saw off the branch on which both they and the leadership are sitting. This way, the "HDZ leadership" still has time to come to their senses and accept the will of the majority of their party's deputies, elected by the people to the HNK Assembly. Otherwise, from Sarajevo, they can rightfully tell them already; ask us to respect the will of the Croatian people, your voters, and you yourself do not respect it. /HMS/