Preljević: March 1st referendum one of the greatest moments in our history, myth that Serbs boycotted it

(Patria) - It is a common myth that citizens of Serbian nationality boycotted the March 1st referendum in 1992. Considering all circumstances, SDS obstruction in municipalities where it held power, propaganda, voter turnout in elections two years prior, the 1991 census, the turnout was not that bad.

Professor Vahidin Preljević states this and continues: “In fact, it is very likely that at least 15 to 20 percent of registered voters of Serbian nationality participated in the referendum. This is shown by the results in Tuzla, Zenica, Sarajevo, Brčko, Jajce, Doboj, but also in Banja Luka”.

“But the general results also speak about this. Namely, if 64.31% of voters participated in the referendum, and according to the census, Bosniaks and Croats together accounted for 60.85% + 5.5% Yugoslavs, then it turns out that the turnout of all three groups had to be almost 97-98% to achieve this result! This is not shown by statistics, and it is simply unrealistic,” Preljević points out.

As he says, the turnout of Bosniaks, Croats, and Yugoslavs (of whom a significant portion was certainly of Serbian origin) was certainly huge, probably around 80%, but not 100%.

“Conclusion: the March 1st referendum is a democratic expression of the free will of BiH citizens and one of the greatest moments in our history,” Preljević concluded.