General Mobilisation of HDZ in Bosnia and Herzegovina Due to Elections in Croatia

(Patria)- In case the results of the second round of the presidential elections are “tight”, it is quite possible that many will link any potential victory of HDZ candidate Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović to votes arriving from polling stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, writes Jutarnji list.

Since Zoran Milanović simply has nothing to seek there - it is estimated he will receive up to ten percent of the votes - the HDZ is well aware of the potential in the BiH voter pool, which they did not fully exploit in the first round, the newspaper states.

Several sources from the HDZ have unofficially confirmed that voters are being organised to be transported to polling stations by bus, that activity on the ground is much greater than before the first round of elections, and they expect more voters in BiH to exercise their right to vote on Sunday, 5 January.

Because of this, great expectations are once again placed on the organisational skills of HDZ Deputy President Milijan Brkić, who was included in Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's campaign team only after she won fewer votes than her main rival Zoran Milanović in the first round.

- Brkić is in charge of coordination on the ground for both Croatia and BiH, where Mostar is key for us. We expect higher turnout in the second round - said a source from the HDZ.

Allegedly, when it comes to BiH, HDZ members will resort to their standard strategy, which involves organising buses to transport voters. It is also expected that there will be crowds at certain polling stations and longer waiting times precisely due to this organised transport.

However, not everyone in the HDZ is entirely sure that mobilising their voters in BiH will result in significantly higher turnout in the second round.

That Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović has potential for a significant increase in the number of votes won in BiH is clear when analysing the results of the first round, in which only 24,646 voters exercised their right to vote in BiH.

Of those who turned out, 16,417 (66.61 percent) voted for Grabar-Kitarović, 6,278 voters (25.47 percent) circled Miroslav Škoro, while Milanović received only 1,131 votes (4.58 percent). In other words, right-wing candidates in BiH won more than 90 percent of all votes, states the Jutarnji article.