The Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) has during negotiations about the Election Law changes it was insisting on prior to the October election rejected all proposals that would have protected the collective interests of Croats in Bosnia, said the Secretary of the Democratic Front (DF), Zlatko Miletic, told N1 on Tuesday.
The HDZ, the main Bosnian Croat ethnic-oriented party in the country, was pressing for changes in the country’s Election Law so that it would guarantee all three constituent peoples in Bosnia to elect their own representatives.
According to the current law, the Bosnian Serb member of the tripartite presidency is elected from the Serb-dominated part of Bosnia, Republika Srpska (RS), while the Croat and Bosniak members are both elected from the other part, the Federation (FBiH), where those two ethnic groups are the majority.
However, Bosniaks outnumber the Croats by far, and this allows them to elect both the Bosniak as well as the Croat member. This happened two times before when, thanks to Bosniak votes, left-leaning Bosnian Croat Zeljko Komsic was elected to represent the Croats in the presidency. Bosniaks voted for him because of his pro-Bosnian views.
The HDZ claimed that his election violates the 1995 peace agreement which guarantees all three groups the right to elect their own representatives. The right-wing party wanted the law to be changed to match the peace agreement provisions.
But whatever solution was offered to the HDZ, including mechanisms to protect the collective rights of Croats and various favours, the party simply rejected, Miletic told N1.
Komsic even offered not to run at all in exchange for specific constitutional changes that were previously on the table, the DF Secretary said. Komsic's withdrawal would have allowed the HDZ to win the post but this too was rejected, he said.
So on October 7, Komsic won the seat in the Bosnian presidency for the third time, and this angered the HDZ which threatened to declare the election invalid and prevent the formation of the government.
“It is not true that they are fighting for Croats only,” Miletic said about the HDZ.
He said that the HDZ was actually aiming for changes in the law that would cement its own rule forever.
“They, in fact, want to rule the Federation with ten per cent of votes,” Miletic said.
