Will the "Trojka" Parties Help SNSD and HDZ Get a Member of the BiH Central Election Commission?

(Patria) - In the photo below, you surely recognize Sanja Vulić. She is one of Milorad Dodik's most loyal associates who, along with Obren Petrović, has been coordinating election fraud in Doboj for years. Beside Sanja Vulić are all the "successful women from SNSD Doboj".

The City Committee of SNSD, illustrating with this photograph, issued a statement in which they stated that they are "proud of the fact that women hold an important place in shaping the policies of society and the city of Doboj, because women are the pillars of society, and therefore they should be given an opportunity which they will surely use in the best possible way".

“Doboj social democrats express great gratitude to the president of the SNSD City Committee in Doboj, Obren Petrović, for recognizing their effort and work, and for giving them trust and an opportunity for their more than successful socio-political engagement. The SNSD City Committee Doboj also has deputies in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, Nina Bukejlović, and in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, Sanja Vulić, with direct mandates. Also, Doboj SNSD has three heads of departments in the City Administration of Doboj, namely: Dijana Kalenić, Department for Strategic Planning, European Integration and Local Economic Development, Nataša Marić, Department for Urban Planning, and Nada Đekić, Head of the Service for Legal Affairs, Regulations and Management of City Real Estate, as well as a large number of women in director positions,” it was published on April 25, 2023.

Pay attention to one name. Nada Đekić. She is employed in the City Administration of Doboj, where she holds the position of Head of the Service for Legal Affairs. SNSD itself presents her as an SNSD cadre. She was a member of the City Election Commission in Doboj, a city where the CEC has recorded numerous election irregularities for years. She is close to SNSD and is a candidate for a member of the Central Election Commission.

Members of the CEC are elected by the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The session at which the successor to Irena Hadžiabdić should be elected is scheduled for tomorrow.

SNSD and HDZ prefer Nada Đekić. A portion of the "Trojka" deputies, gathered around SDP's Saša Magazinović, advocates for the election to fail, so that Irena Hadžiabdić, whose mandate has expired, remains in the CEC, and so that SDP, in a new competition, supports candidates close to the coalition partners of the "Trojka" parties (SNSD and HDZ).

After the competition procedure was completed, a list of candidates was compiled. The top-ranked candidates, with the same number of points, are Jasmina Ramić-Odobašić and Nada Đekić. However, Marinko Čavara, as reported by the portal Raport, decided to list SNSD's candidate Nada Đekić as the top-ranked one so that the House of Representatives would vote on her first.

Jasmina Ramić-Odobašić is a long-time official of the CEC. During the competition procedure, she won the same number of points as Nada Đekić. However, her election is in the hands of the deputies from the "Trojka" parties and the opposition from RS.

If the deputies from the "Trojka" parties, NES, SDA, DF, and the opposition from Republika Srpska vote for Jasmina Ramić-Odobašić, SNSD's candidate Nada Đekić will have no chance of being elected.

Here is a simple calculation.

The "Trojka" parties (SDP, NiP, and Naša stranka) have a total of ten deputies. SDA alone has eight, and DF has three. If they are joined by the "opposition" NES with two deputies and Fuad Kasumović's BH Initiative with one, it means there would be a total of 24 votes from FBiH.

It is assumed that the deputies coming from the opposition of Republika Srpska will not support Nada Đekić from SNSD. SDS and PDP each have two deputies, and Nebojša Vukanović's Party of Justice and Order has one vote.

If all the mentioned parties vote for Jasmina Ramić-Odobašić, HDZ and SNSD would be left without a member of the CEC for the next seven years, i.e., two election cycles (2026 and 2030).

However, a portion of the "Trojka" party deputies, led by Saša Magazinović, are trying to convince other deputies not to vote on the candidates for CEC member at this session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.

In that case, Irena Hadžiabdić would "work" through another election, as the CEC will announce the General Elections 2026 next week, and after the elections are announced, the CEC membership cannot be changed until the election process is completed.