Mijatović from Brčko prepares the ground: Nikšić should be asked to stay at the head of SDP as long as he can and his health allows

By Amra Vrabac

When it was supported at the SDP Congress on June 10, 2023, that Nermin Nikšić remain president of the SDP until the end of the local elections, which are to be held in October 2024, some SDP members openly expressed their disagreement with such a decision. Vice-president of the party Denis Bećirović, Irfan Čengić did not attend that Congress, and Igor Stojanović also expressed criticism.

The SDP Electoral Congress should be held in 2025. However, cadres close to Nermin Nikšić, whom he installed in important positions, have already started calling for his continued leadership of the SDP.

In his speech at a forum in Brčko District on February 28, on the occasion of BiH Independence Day, Vojin Mijatović, who was also the initiator of the idea to extend Nikšić's presidential term, reiterated this stance.

“I am completely sure that the upcoming local elections will show the full strength of the social democratic party, and I am completely sure that after the significant growth of results and good results in both entities, it will be a sufficient reason to ask President Nikšić not to leave the helm of the SDP, but to stay as long as he can and his health allows, and to move forward,” Mijatović said.

Just a day after Mijatović's serenade about Nikšić, Dragan Stevanović, a long-time member of the SDP, also made a statement.

“It seems that in the SDP we will soon have to form a 'faction' of members who have had social democracy as their political option from the beginning and have not changed political parties and jerseys.
This is so that our voice can also be heard in the SDP,” Stevanović stated on FB.

According to Patria's information, there was a verbal conflict between Stojanović and Nikšić at a recent session of the SDP Presidency, and since the SDP entered government at all levels, the sessions resemble a war front. Sources from the SDP reveal that in addition to raised voices, discussions are full of swearing and insults, just in the social democratic spirit.

When Ademir Spahić was quickly expelled from the party for making accusations against President Nikšić and some other SDP cadres, accusing him of hate speech, many considered that despotism had replaced democracy in the SDP.

Some of the personnel decisions that Nikšić chose for certain positions have caused revolt among SDP members. This mostly refers to Mijatović, who in a short time became the vice-president of the SDP, Nikšić's favorite, so it is said that Mijatović is actually the "shadow prime minister".

When the story about the SDP Congress was current, and negotiations on the formation of the FBiH Government were also underway, the head of HDZ, Dragan Čović, "advised" Nikšić to retain the position of president "however he could".

What Nikšić fears, and apparently other political partners as well, is that by the principle of "one member-one vote", he would lose the race against Zukan Helez or Denis Bećirović, who are currently the most serious candidates to take over the party.

How much real democracy and respect for the Statute remains in the SDP will be shown very soon. However, it is true that Nikšić is not averse to the idea of remaining president. Although he claimed that he was not in favor of changing the Statute to remain president, it seems that the idea of remaining at the head of the party outside the statute is closer to him.

Mijatović's speech calling for Nikšić to stay.