Why Slaven Kovačević will be a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

By Enver Halilović

There are a million reasons why Slaven Kovačević should be a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and not a single reason why he shouldn't be.

On this occasion, I will mention only one of the reasons why Slaven Kovačević will be elected a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. That one reason is such that it contains a million other reasons stemming from it, which is why Slaven Kovačević will, quite certainly, be a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina elected in the general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in October this year.

That reason is the fact that Slaven Kovačević does not advocate for the ethno-territorial federalization of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the creation of two sub-entities within the Federation, is not for the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor for the ethnic division of peoples, nor for all that follows from it. Why is this a sufficient reason for Slaven Kovačević to be a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina? Because that reason means everything for the daily lives of ordinary people, women and men, old and young in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for the state as such, for peace and security in BiH, but also in the region.

Slaven Kovačević has so far, independently of the already open campaign for the election to the Presidency, proven himself as a proponent of Bosnia and Herzegovina's sovereignist policy, both internal and external, against the ethno-territorial division of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into two entities, for equal rights for all people throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the internal policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slaven Kovačević is against the division of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into a Croatian and a Bosniak entity, meaning he is for a unified sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina. From this political conviction and orientation, he builds and advocates for Bosnian foreign policy.

Why is it important for Slaven Kovačević to advocate for an ethnopolitically unified, and above all, ethno-territorially undivided Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into two parts, but also for a unified and sovereign state of Bosnia and Herzegovina? The answer is: because the policy of ethnopolitical unity of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina means the rejection of the formation of two ethno-territorial entities, a Croatian and a Bosniak one, two sub-states within the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Slaven Kovačević is not for the ethnic division of the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina into two entities, into two ethno-territorial para-states, because he is aware of what that means in the practical life of an ordinary person, women and men, old and children, in the territory, above all, of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of the entire country.

The formation of two ethnic entities, two sub-states, two para-states within the Federation means, at best, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, of the Croats of the Federation into the Croatian entity, into the Croatian state in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, of the Bosniaks of the Federation into the Bosniak entity, into the Bosniak state, which very likely entails armed conflict and a regional war. Slaven Kovačević is not only not for this, he is categorically and fundamentally against it, against such a future for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the state as a whole.

Therefore, he is against so-called legitimate ethnic representation, against the ethnic division of voter lists and voters, against the humane and any form of displacement of people from one area of the Federation to another due to their ethnic, religious, cultural, and other collective group affiliation, against the persecution of people from their workplaces, from their residential neighborhoods, villages, cities, laboratories, universities, apartment buildings, cafes, restaurants, against every form of ethnopolitical separatism and secessionism.

With Slaven Kovačević as a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we all win; only ethnoseparatists, ethnonationalists, xenophobes, and fascists lose. Therefore, Slaven Kovačević will be, and should be, elected a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the elections this October.