WHEN NIKŠIĆ AND KRALJEVIĆ DIVIDE Party division of 50 million: SDP and HDZ profited, SDA and HDZ opponents were harmed

(Patria) - At the 267th extraordinary session of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina held on December 11, 2025, a decision was made to allocate 48 million KM to municipalities and cities in the Federation of BiH for the financing of projects, initiatives, and other activities of significance for local self-government units in FBiH. Another two million KM was allocated for 13 municipalities of the fifth category of development (in free interpretation, these are smaller, less developed municipalities) - 153,846.00 KM each, writes Slobodna Bosna.

Municipalities and cities of the Federation of BiH had previously applied with projects to the Government of FBiH, and after the decision of the Government of the Federation of BiH, projects from 63 cities and municipalities were accepted.

What can be concluded from the list of municipalities and projects that received money from the budget of the Federation of BiH is that the Government of FBiH was guided more by political criteria than all others. This can best be seen in the example of Tuzla Canton, but not only that.

TUZLA CANTON

This Canton has 13 municipalities, and in most municipalities, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) won in the last elections: These are: Živinice, Gradačac, Gračanica, Sapna, Teočak, Kladanj, Doboj Istok, Kalesija. SDP won in Tuzla and Srebrenik, Social Democrats (SD) in Lukavac, Party of Democratic Activity (Elzina Pirić) in Banovići, and the Party for BiH in Čelić. A total of 6.55 million KM will be transferred from the FBiH budget.

In the last local elections in 2024, SDP suffered a heavy defeat in TK. This canton has long been considered a "bastion of social democracy", but in the last elections, SDA won two "SDP strongholds" - Gračanica and Gradačac. This means SDA "doubled" its result from the previous elections when they had four mayoral positions.

For all cities/municipalities with an SDA mayor, a total of 1.84 million KM was allocated from this budget item. For only two cities with an SDP mayor, significantly more was allocated - 2.45 million KM. A total of 4.7 million KM was allocated to municipalities where SDA does not have a mayor.

The number of inhabitants was certainly not the criterion, because the aforementioned eight municipalities with SDA authorities make up almost half of the population of Tuzla Canton, and two cities, Živinice and Gradačac, have a total of 100,000 inhabitants.

See the table of revenue distribution in Tuzla Canton below:



UNA-SANA CANTON

Let's move on to Una-Sana Canton. The Canton consists of eight municipalities: Bihać, Bosanska Krupa, Bosanski Petrovac, Bužim, Cazin, Ključ, Sanski Most, and Velika Kladuša. All these local communities were "rewarded" by the federal government with a total amount of 7.5 million KM, but not in adequate amounts. SDA won in four out of eight municipalities in the last elections (Bosanski Petrovac, Ključ, Sanski Most, Bužim). These municipalities received a total of 1.56 million KM. Bosanska Krupa alone, where SDP's Armin Halitović won the mayoral position in the last elections, received more than all the aforementioned municipalities combined - 1.7 million KM. Bihać received 1.55 million KM, Cazin received 1.47 million KM, Velika Kladuša 1.2 million KM.

See the table of allocated funds to municipalities in Una-Sana Canton below:




CENTRAL BOSNIA CANTON

The next in line is Central Bosnia Canton. It consists of 12 municipalities: Bugojno, Busovača, Dobretići, Donji Vakuf, Fojnica, Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje, Jajce, Kiseljak, Kreševo, Novi Travnik, Travnik, Vitez. SDA won mayoral positions in five municipalities.

Nine out of a total of 12 municipalities received assistance from the Government of the Federation of BiH in the total amount of 6.6 million KM, and of the five municipalities where SDA won the mayoralty, three municipalities received funds in the total amount of 1.35 million KM.

The most populous municipality, Travnik, the canton's center, received not a single mark. On the other hand, the municipality of Donji Vakuf, where the mayor from the SDP was elected in the last elections, received as much as 2 million KM.

In addition to Travnik, which received nothing, it is very interesting that the municipality of Bugojno, where SDP won the mayoral position for the first time after several election cycles in the last elections, received nothing from the Government of FBiH. Zukan Helez, the SDP minister of defense, is from Bugojno. He is largely responsible for the victory of the SDP candidate in this municipality. However, he has long disagreed with the party leadership on numerous issues.

See the table of money distribution in Central Bosnia Canton below:



SARAJEVO CANTON

In Sarajevo Canton, SDA did not fare well in the last elections. It consists of the municipalities Centar, Novi Grad, Novo Sarajevo, Stari Grad, Hadžići, Ilidža, Ilijaš, Trnovo, and Vogošća, which received a total of 7.85 million KM.

SDA won mayoral positions only in Hadžići, Trnovo, and Vogošća. The three municipalities where SDA has a mayor received a total of 2.53 million KM from the Federal government. However, SDA is not the biggest problem for the ruling SDP in Sarajevo Canton, unlike the Party for BiH, or its president Semir Efendić.

This fierce critic of the SDP, who claims that the party "is working to weaken Bosniaks as a political factor in Bosnia and Herzegovina," is the mayor of the municipality of Novi Grad, which, despite being the most populous in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the largest fiscal turnover in the country, received only 200,000 KM from the Government of the Federation of BiH.

See the table of money distribution in Sarajevo Canton below:



ZENICA-DOBOJ CANTON

Zenica-Doboj Canton consists of 12 local communities: Breza, Doboj Jug, Kakanj, Maglaj, Olovo, Tešanj, Usora, Vareš, Visoko, Zavidovići, Zenica, and Žepče. SDA won eight mayoral and city mayor positions in the last elections, while the ruling SDP did not win any, which was one of the major surprises of the last local elections.

Therefore, this canton is treated specially by the federal government. Let's see how:

ZDK received a total of 5.5 million KM. A total of 10 out of 12 municipalities received money, and Vareš, where the mayor was the recently deceased Zdravko Marošević (from HDS, which split from the ruling HDZ), and Živinice, where SDA surprisingly won, were left without money.

See the table of money distribution in Zenica-Doboj Canton, which, despite being the third most populous canton in FBiH, was not adequately rewarded by the Federal government (less than USK and SBK):



HERZEGOVINA-NERETVA CANTON

Herzegovina-Neretva Canton consists of nine cities and municipalities: Stolac, Ravno, Prozor-Rama, Neum, Mostar, Konjic, Jablanica, Čitluk, and Čapljina. The political landscape is diverse, but as in ZDK, SDP does not have a single mayor. SDA and HDZ dominate. So, let's see how the Government of FBiH distributed the money to this canton.

The first thing that stands out is that Prozor-Rama is not on the list of municipalities. You guessed it, HDZ has not had a mayor there for years, even though it is a predominantly Croatian municipality. As in other cantons, municipalities that elected an SDA mayor fared disastrously, and Konjic and Jablanica received only 700,000 KM out of a total of 7.4 million KM that arrived in this canton. Thus, the municipality of Ravno, with only 3,000 inhabitants, received more than Konjic and Jablanica combined.

Let's look at the table of fund distribution by municipality:



CANTON 10

Canton 10 consists of six municipalities: Bosansko Grahovo, Drvar, Glamoč, Kupres, Livno, and Tomislavgrad. This part of BiH was significantly populated by Serbs before the war, who left their homes due to the war. Otherwise, it is one of the poorest parts of BiH, which the Federation of BiH has systematically ignored since the war in terms of financial and all other forms of assistance.

The total amount allocated by the Government of FBiH for this canton is 2.46 million KM. However, the government did not reward the poorest municipalities but the richer ones. But that is not the only criterion, because, as in other cantons, we have "punished" municipalities here as well. In Canton 10, this is Tomislavgrad, which, like Prozor-Rama and Vareš, has a majority Croatian population that did not choose the HDZ candidate for mayor in the elections. Therefore, it will not receive a single mark. Livno fared best with 740,000 KM and Kupres with 608,000 KM. In both these municipalities, the mayor is from HDZ.

Let's look at the table of money distribution:



BOSNIA-PODRINJE AND POSAVINA CANTONS

Bosnia-Podrinje Canton consists of the city of Goražde and the municipalities of Foča and Pale. The city of Goražde received 800,000 KM, while the small municipalities of Foča and Pale received 154,000 KM each based on the principle of solidarity.

Posavina Canton also consists of three municipalities, and they received a solid 1.7 million KM. Although Odžak and Orašje have approximately the same number of inhabitants, HDZ is in power in Orašje, so they received twice as much funds as Odžak. (Domaljevac-Šamac - 454 thousand KM; Odžak - 428 thousand KM; Orašje - 800 thousand KM)

WEST HERZEGOVINA CANTON

West Herzegovina Canton has four municipalities (Grude, Ljubuški, Posušje, and Široki Brijeg), and HDZ is in power in all of them. A total of 3.36 million KM was allocated from the budget of the Federation of BiH, and of course, no municipality was denied funds.

Municipality Grude - 700,000.00
City of Ljubuški - 1,000,000.00
City of Široki Brijeg - 960,000.00
Municipality Posušje - 700,000.00