Bosnia’s society is divided into ‘castes’ and political parties, especially the left-wing ones, are missing an opportunity to appeal to those who live in poverty, political analyst Zarko Papic told N1 on Friday.

Papic spoke about the political atmosphere in Bosnia ahead of the upcoming general election.  

Issues such as possible changes to the Constitution, the establishment of a third semi-autonomous entity to the existing two, and the efforts to abolish the concept of ‘constitutive peoples’, which describes the three majority ethnic groups (Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs) are important for the country, but have also become part of election campaigns, Papic said.  

‘A historic opportunity is being missed. This was a chance for left-wing and civic parties, those with social awareness, to reach out to as much of the poor population as possible,’ he said.  

‘Bosnia is divided according to castes,’ he said.

Voters will on September elect the three members of the country's Presidency, a Serb, a Croat and a Bosniak, the lawmkaers in the House of Representatives, and the Presidents and lawmakers in the country's two semi-autonomous entities, the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) and the Croat-Bosniak Federation (FBiH).

‘I think it was a mistake that the campaign gave too much importance to the position of Presidency member, while other positions are being treated as secondary,’ Papic said.  

He singled out two parties on the current political scene which he said are running a ‘positive campaign’, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Union for a Better Future (SBB).  

‘Other parties are still, according to the old method, working toward creating tensions and hate,’ he said, explaining that this method includes pointing out stances of other's toward Bosnia, such as ‘who is a traitor and who is a patriot’.  

‘We have so-called parties that are not parties in the true sense, they are organised like cartels and they represent national oligarchic capital,’ Papic said.    

‘There is a number of those who are in cahoots with those in power and they will do everything they can so that they and their allies don’t lose power. The moment when they do, the country may begin to function properly,’ he added.