There are more and more of those who are not professional politicians but are running for various political positions in Bosnia’s October general election this year, and citizens seem to have nothing against it.
Among them is Razija Mujanovic, a Bosnian basketball legend since the time of former Yugoslavia. She is now a member of the Independent Bloc, running for the Parliament of the Federation (FBiH), one of Bosnia’s two semi-autonomous entities.
“They mostly support me,” she told N1, speaking of citizens. “They say ‘Raza, if you don’t change anything, we really don’t know what to do’. Of course, I will give my maximum, as I did in sports,” she said.
Mujanovic is not the only athlete running for office. Successful Bosnian judoka Amel Mekic is a candidate for the recently formed People and Justice political party. Soccer player Enid Tahirovic is running for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), while former kickboxing world champion, Salko Zildic, is a Party for Democratic Action (SDA) candidate for a seat in the FBiH Parliament.
There are also many artists running in the upcoming election.
Among them are renown actor and SDA member Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, who is running for the State Parliament for the SDA, and writer Abdulah Sidran, who is running for the Citizens Union.
“I joined them because they are new, they have not compromised themselves yet,” Sidran said.
Journalists also turned candidates for this election, like well-known reporter Sanela Prasovic Gadzo, who is now a member of the Union for a Better Future (SBB). Renown journalist and columnist Vlastimir Mijovic also entered politics, joining the SDP.
“I will be on the list for the FBiH Parliament. Maybe I won’t make it, I am not a professional. But if I don’t, I will work with young people, as very little has been done with them,” Mijovic said.
Citizens seem to support the athletes, artists, and journalists in this endeavor.
“There are some extraordinary people there who, apart from sports, show great objectivity and patriotism. Why not have them on the list?” one of the citizens told N1.
“There are worldly people there who sing across the entire region. We just need to get rid of the politicians. So, a singer in the Presidency? Yes, why not?” another citizen said.
“People are fed up with everything, so I don’t know who we should running in the election. I am not sure how to increase the voting percentage,” said another one.
Public persons can bring more people to vote, said political analyst Ivana Maric.
“People vote for well-known names. On those large, vast lists of candidates, of course, it is easier to find a celebrity and vote for him,” she said.
Maric pointed out that there are not many celebrities on the lists in Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia’s Serb-dominated semi-autonomous entity, and neither are there many of them on the lists of the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ), the main Croat political party in the country.
Their pool of voters is well concentrated and stable, she said.
Health workers are also a common sight on the electoral lists in this election. Among them are the Director of Sarajevo’s Clinical Centre and wife of Bosniak Presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic, Dr. Sebija Izetbegovic, a member of the SDA, Dr. Mirsad Kacila, from the Heart of Sarajevo Centre, member of the SBB, and Dr. Kemal Dizdarevic, a renown neurosurgeon who joined the newly established Independent Bloc.
