SDA and SDP are losing because of the duo: Their departure is the key reform!

A little over a month before the elections, the two largest and most important political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Party of Democratic Action and the Social Democratic Party, are facing a great danger of a heavy defeat, reports the BH News Agency Patria (NAP).

All pre-election, mostly online party polls indicate a growing support for alternative options, primarily the Alliance for a Better Future, the Democratic Front, and the independent candidate Dr. Mustafa Cerić.

The current leaders of these parties, Bakir Izetbegović and Zlatko Lagumdžija, are, as we learn, under increasing pressure from party colleagues and the electoral base, who believe that because of these two, SDA and SDP are losing their true state and pro-Bosniak identity, voters, and credibility among BiH citizens, and that the parties are becoming private companies of Izetbegović and Lagumdžija.

Both of them, according to well-informed sources, have major problems justifying the enormous private assets they have acquired, not only to the public but also to loyal members of SDA and SDP, while the state they have led and are leading is increasingly sinking into economic collapse, and citizens into poverty.

Thus, as we learn, the polls that party leaders are receiving from the field are interpreted. Patria learns that a poll in the Tuzla Canton, conducted by the local SDA for its own purposes, shows that Željko Komšić's DF has overtaken SDP, and that SBB is also very close to the Party of Democratic Action in the traditionally left-oriented Tuzla.

In other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well, indicators from the field show increasing support for alternative options, even from the regularly disciplined electorate of SDA and SDP.

It is clear that the infrastructure and network of these parties, built over more than 20 years, cannot disappear overnight, but pressure is growing to change the leadership of SDA and SDP.

A potential failure of SDA or SDP – considering the 20-year-old infrastructure and the enormous amount of money invested and spent on campaigns, anything other than an absolute victory for SDA or SDP can be considered a failure – could be a prelude to changes within the parties themselves and the final departure of the duo Izetbegović – Lagumdžija.

And that, in fact, would be the biggest substantive change in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, given that, all these years, this duo, personally or through their satellites, has held all the reins of power and influence among Bosniaks, as well as in the country.

Changes in power have always been cosmetic and symbolic, and Lagumdžija and Izetbegović have never lost political power, regardless of which coalition was in power and where. On the contrary, it grew, as did their personal wealth, but now the situation is clearly changing.

Party members from SDA and SDP know and detect this best, which is why they are already signaling to both Lagumdžija and Izetbegović to prepare their suitcases after the elections, reports NAP.