IS A NEW ASIM AFFAIR BEING PREPARED? Who is plotting against Bogićević?

Written by: Amra Vrabac

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The “Asim” affair, which nearly a year after the audio recording was published – whose authenticity was confirmed by Asim Sarajlić himself when he resigned from all party positions – revealed only part of the dirty political strategies for winning certain positions, abuse of public resources, job trading, election rigging both within and outside the party…

Although the original topic of the controversial recording was not that, but the vote for the head of the SDA Municipal Board Sarajevo, in nine minutes Sarajlić revealed numerous abuses for which the top people of the SDA should be held accountable, as well as the director of the Intelligence-Security Agency, Osman Mehmedagić, who is already on trial for abuse of office in another case. On the recording, Sarajlić compromises the head of the OSA, who, according to the OSA Law, should not be tied to politics. Given that in this country no appointment can pass without political interference, it would be desirable to at least try to hide such things. However, precisely the lack of sanctions and the failure to prosecute such cases of corruption, abuse of office, and influence peddling give wind to the backs of various Sarajlićs to “get things done.”

“We played our part. I came with Zdravko Stojnić like in 'The Godfather'. Traca organized everything there, and Skaka became mayor by one vote. Traca and I finished that. The Eight visited Zdravko's grandmother and promised some things, and we finished it so that he became mayor by one vote. And the Eight is with us, don't worry about anything,” says Sarajlić on the recording, then vice-president of the SDA, head of the Personnel Commission, delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, and one of the top associates of SDA President Bakir Izetbegović. It was Izetbegović who was the fiercest defender of Sarajlić throughout the entire affair.

This recording, which should be listened to from time to time, laid bare to the core how far the party soldiers are willing to go to take and seize positions and functions.

What can be heard these days in the Sarajevo bazaar is that something similar is happening in the current process of electing councilors from municipal councils to the Sarajevo City Council and the election of the Mayor of Sarajevo, meaning that changes are also being prepared at the Central Election Commission regarding the method of allocating mandates to city councilors.

This indicates the urgent need to change the method of electing city councilors and the mayor. Irfan Čengić from the SDP BiH, one of the coordinators in the process of electing the Mayor of Sarajevo, also spoke about this.

“I will advocate even more for the possibility of the mayor being directly elected by citizens. As a federal deputy, I will present amendments to the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the future mayor to enable the next mayor to be elected by citizens in elections, as well as city councilors,” said Čengić.

He points out that there are one set of rules in the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and another in the law, and that for years the Constitution has not been respected in some cities where mayors are directly elected, and former municipal heads.

The procedure in the Republika Srpska is simpler than the necessary changes in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska amended the Law on the City of East Sarajevo in February 2020, enabling the mayor of East Sarajevo to be directly elected in the last local elections (November 2020). Citizens also directly elect the mayor of Banja Luka, so why not Sarajevo and Mostar.

Direct election of the mayor, chosen by citizens from the offered candidates, would avoid processes like those we are currently seeing in Mostar, where the City Council has failed to elect a mayor after three attempts.

The parties of the Quartet (People and Justice, SDP BiH, Our Party, and NBL) will have the necessary majority in the Sarajevo City Council, and the election of Bogić Bogićević as Mayor of Sarajevo is not in question. Bogićević can also count on the support of other councilors, regardless of whether they come from the Quartet parties. If there is one candidate around whom there is general consensus to lead Sarajevo, it is Bogićević, the former member of the Presidency of the SFRY who decisively said “no” to Slobodan Milošević in March 1991.

That historic “no” was the only correct one for Bogićević at the time because, as he says, he represented not only the Serbs from Bosnia and Herzegovina but all peoples and national minorities. In a 2008 interview with Radio Free Europe, Bogićević says:

“In my opinion, anyone can declare you a traitor, but the hardest thing in life is to betray yourself. Life is too short for a person to take on the sins of others on their own shoulders. Life is fleeting and short, but it is long enough to be lived honorably and honestly.”

Whoever does not learn a lesson from this message, and at the same time plots to oppose the election of Bogićević or in any way obstruct his candidacy, that person or those people deserve to be banished from both the political and social life of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.