Elections in Croatia: Two States, Two Parliaments, One Party

The winner of the elections in Croatia was practically decided by votes from the diaspora, more precisely from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Never has the absurdity of Croats voting in the alleged BiH diaspora been expressed more clearly and simply than this time.

Namely, voting in electoral district 11 brought three parliamentary seats to the HDZ. If compared with the results for the Sabor in Croatia, where the ratio is 59 to 56 seats, it is evident that the votes of Croats from BiH tipped the scales in the alleged victory of the HDZ coalition over the SDP's.

Thus, the vote in Croatia was practically decided in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Influential Politics

Nowhere in the world does there exist a democratic right for one people to possess constituent status in two states. Nowhere in the world does one people have the ability to vote equally for two parliaments, as the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina do. Pushing this constant narrative about the struggle for equality is very useful for Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats.

Economic aid from Croatia has never dried up. At the same time, BiH Croats, with this voting potential, have a constant influence on the politics of the neighbouring country. That is why the Croatian HDZ shows disproportionate concern for them, while others regularly express concern in an attempt to reduce the crowds in the voting lines in Mostar and Sarajevo for one and the same party. How much truth lies in that voting power was also shown by these elections for the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia.

The constant claims about national endangerment put forward by BiH Croats have never been scrutinised in the Republic of Croatia. Such a proposal would be unheard-of courage and would probably cost the proposer political death. But any scrutiny of the rights of BiH Croats would show something completely different from the stereotypes of endangerment created so far. Fortunately, there is no evidence of any reduction of Croatian collective rights in this country.

If the HDZ BiH wins within the Croatian corpus, it is natural that the HDZ Croatia will be the favourite among the same voters. Someone, in the name of a greater-state project, created parallel para-political relations and maintains them to this day.

Collective Rights Ensured

Croats are an autochthonous BiH people and have absolute rights like the other two peoples. These rights are most clearly expressed in the Houses of Peoples in the Federation and at the state level. In the federal and state parliaments, no decision can be made without asking, or better said, begging the HDZ. If Serbs in Croatia or Croats in Serbia had a tenth of such collective rights, conflicts fiercer than those over the Cyrillic sign in Vukovar would break out.

It is bad for the political scene of Croatia that BiH Croats regularly throw their votes to one party – the HDZ or the presidential candidate of that option. Thus, that side shows no interest in possible economic programmes, reforms, or any changes in relations in the neighbouring country. The votes there are always ideologically coloured or seasoned with prejudices.

BiH Croats are the only people in the world who have the right to vote in two states. And who elect members of two parliaments. And yet they vote for only one party.