SDA introduces Serbs, Croats, women, and youth into party leadership

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – The Main Board of the Party of Democratic Action will consider proposed amendments to the Statute on Saturday, which will also be voted on by delegates at the 7th SDA Congress on September 14, when the party president will also be elected.

The amendments to the Statute plan to abolish cantonal, municipal, and city boards.

The amendments to the Statute also provide for the abolition of the position of deputy president, and an increase in the number of vice presidents from eight to nine. The decision on who among the vice presidents can replace the president in case of his inability to perform that function is made by the president himself, while in case of permanent inability, that decision is made by the SDA Presidency.

As previously announced by SDA President Bakir Izetbegović, the amendments to the Statute also stipulate that the Main Board and the Presidency will include representatives of all constituent peoples and Others, while among the party leadership itself (president, vice presidents, president of the Main Board and his deputies, general secretary), there must be at least one representative of each constituent people and Others.

“We do not have a breakthrough into the Serb and Croat communities. As Alija used to say: 'The Bosnian lock is opened with a three-pronged key, Bosniak, Serb, and Croat', and we have one. If Serbs and Croats could be in the Army of BiH and die for this country, why couldn't they be with us in politics in the same party, we will open the doors for them,” Izetbegović said in early June.

The current situation in SDA is that all eight vice presidents are men and Bosniaks, there are three women among the 29 members of the party's Presidency, and all are Bosniaks. Out of 103 members of the Main Board, 13 are women, and only two members are from the Serb and Croat communities, namely the president of the Main Board Čedomir Lukić and Ivica Šarić.

The amendments to the Statute also imply the representation of women and youth in the party leadership.