SDP will never agree to the division of Mostar, strategic approach in local elections

The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at an online session of the Presidency, discussed the current political situation in the country and analyzed the circumstances ahead of the local elections. The session addressed the recent agreement between SDA and HDZ on holding elections in Mostar, stating that the SDP will never agree to the division of Mostar, which this agreement attempts to sell under the guise of holding elections.

The Presidency adopted the position and assessment of the SDP Mostar City Committee that cementing the division cannot be an option regarding Mostar.

The Presidency tasked the SDP Club in the House of Representatives of the Parliament to urgently submit to the parliamentary procedure the SDP's proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is based
on the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg regarding the holding of elections in Mostar. The SDP will never agree to legitimacy in representation, as we see this as abandoning the civic vision of society. For the SDP, the legitimate representation of peoples is unacceptable, which nationalist parties, through a series of precedents, want to introduce as a rule. This is an introduction to the definitive ethnic division of Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. The Presidency confirmed the commitment to nominate a Vice President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the ranks of the Serbian people. The SDP Personnel Commission was tasked with carrying out the procedure of recording, interviewing, and
proposing candidates to party bodies.

The SDP BiH calls for renewed caution among citizens regarding the pandemic and demands an adequate response from institutions, because the sharp increase in the number of infected could lead to the spread of the pandemic. The already inefficient healthcare system is unable to respond to such a development of the situation, especially considering that the state of healthcare has been further compromised by corruption scandals of entity governments.

Furthermore, the already fragile economy, which had just begun to recover from the first wave of the pandemic, remains on its knees, because many levels of government, including the federal level, have still not started paying the promised financial aid to businesses. In this way, businesses are still left to fend for themselves, which most often leads to company closures and layoffs.

We see the opportunity for change regarding a large number of the mentioned systemic ills, as well as the shortcomings that the SDP has previously pointed out, in the upcoming local elections, if they indeed take place.

The SDP BiH will, alone or with its partners, strategically approach the local elections with a large number of lists and candidates for mayors and municipal heads, so that every citizen in BiH has the opportunity to choose change and
rejection of local leaders, who have always worked more for the interests of parties rather than for the interests of citizens.