COMMEMORATION OF A GREAT POLITICAL DECEPTION How Čović buried his own idea of legitimate political representation

For NAP writes: Sifet Kukuruz, legal expert

The political narrative about the so-called legitimate political representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has finally shown itself to be what it is in its essence, and that is a classic political deception. The greatest credit for the collapse of this political concept belongs to its ideological creator, HDZ leader Dragan Čović.

Namely, at a press conference he held last Friday, Dragan Čović publicly admitted that by violating the constitution, disregarding the election results, and with the coercion of "friends" from the international community, the will of one of the three constituent peoples in BiH, specifically the Bosniak people, was violated and that he personally participated in it.

Dragan Čović's political enlightenment represents irrefutable proof that the concept of so-called legitimate political representation should not be established as a political model in BiH, because, even in its execution by its ideological creator, it has proven completely inadequate to achieve its basic goal, which is to ensure the equality of the so-called constituent peoples in BiH.

In his public political appearance, the HDZ leader simultaneously expressed regret that one constituent people, specifically Bosniaks, were completely unjustly disenfranchised. However, repentance and the claim that the denial of the political will of a people will never happen again, while simultaneously maintaining the political situation created by violating the constitution and denying the electoral will of a people, best confirms political insincerity, moral-political inconsistency, as well as the unacceptability of the concept of so-called legitimate political representation.

To understand what kind of political cynicism this is, a comparison might be helpful: a thief publicly admitting to the owner of the property that he stole their item and that he deeply regrets it and publicly promises never to do it again, but at the same time decides to keep the stolen item for himself instead of returning it to its owner.

To be clear, the political concept of so-called legitimate representation in BiH is not only advocated by HDZ and its leader Dragan Čović, but also by his political Siamese twin, Milorad Dodik, the leader of SNSD. They are political "Siamese twins" whose separation is proving impossible these days. Much indicates that these two political twins are fated to be connected to such an extent that their political life and political death are possible only in their togetherness.

SNSD and HDZ insist on respecting the ethnic political concept according to which only Serbs and Croats, or more precisely - the leaders of these two parties have the right to decide who among Serbs and Croats will represent the politics of these two peoples in BiH. At the same time, this duo shows no willingness to apply this principle to the third constituent people in BiH, specifically to Bosniaks.

For them, the decisive criterion for determining the so-called legitimate political representatives of Bosniaks is not the election results and the state and entity constitutions, but their political will. In their hypocritical fight for collective rights, these political twins have demonstrated in practice an approach whereby the politics of Bosniaks cannot be autonomously created by Bosniaks, but by the two of them. Therefore, in the politics of legitimate political representation as implemented by the leaders of SNSD and HDZ, only Bosniaks cannot autonomously decide on their own politics and their own representatives.

This political Pharisaism has led these two political Siamese twins into their own trap, which they had prepared for Bosniaks. Their political machinations have shown that the ethnic, rather than the civic, concept is susceptible to abuse and manipulation. They have authentically demonstrated and shown in practice that this concept cannot guarantee the equality of peoples and that, as such, it should not become a political model.

The extent to which this concept produces illogicalities is best shown by the fact that the political "representatives of Bosniaks" determined by the will of SNSD and HDZ, and not by election results and constitutional procedures, participate in decision-making that discriminates against Bosniaks, as officially proven by the verdict of the Court of BiH regarding the election and appointment of heads of police agencies in BiH.

Thus, the duo Dodik and Čović, through the concept of legitimate political representation, have demonstrated in practice precisely what they condemn about the civic concept and declare it a Bosniak instrument for the majorization of the other two peoples in BiH. However, it is precisely these two Siamese twins, through their manipulations with the concept of so-called legitimate political representation, who have grossly disenfranchised one constituent people, Bosniaks, and the HDZ leader publicly admitted this last week, while Milorad Dodik has never hidden or remained silent about it.

The fact that this political concept is destructive is also confirmed by the fact that in this way, Bosniaks are brought into a position not only of political destruction but also of self-destruction. Only in such a concept can it happen that "Bosniak representatives" are brought into a position, in order to remain in power, to vote for decisions that discriminate against Bosniaks. In this way, Bosniaks become legitimate only to the extent that they fulfill the wishes of Čović and Dodik.

An additional problem in this concept is that "Bosniak interests" are represented not by Bosniaks, but by Muslims. In Čović's and Dodik's concept of legitimate political representation, the interests of the Bosniak people are protected by those who are not only not an expression of the election results, but who, as a "Muslim representation," not as political representatives of Bosniaks, were installed in power by the two of them.

Only in the concept of legitimate political representation advocated by Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik is it legitimate for the Bosniak people to be represented by Edin Forto, who publicly declares that he is not a Bosniak. Manipulations with the concept of legitimate political representation best show its unsustainability and confirm that such a concept leads to the complete disappearance of a constituent people, because in that concept, Bosniaks do not exist at all, only Muslims exist, or rather, there are two political peoples and one religious group. And for other peoples and citizens of BiH, there is no place in that concept.

The irony of life has willed that those who established the concept of so-called legitimate political representation for their own needs are the ones who most faithfully demonstrate its absurdity and destructiveness in practice. To complete the picture of absurdity, one should not forget the fact that those whom Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik, contrary to the constitution and election results, installed in power as a "Muslim" rather than a Bosniak representation, and tasked with allegedly protecting the interests of Bosniaks, also contributed significantly.

In the end, one can only say - thank you to Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik for demystifying, completely rendering meaningless, and permanently sending the concept of so-called legitimate political representation into history.