The local elections have shown the absurdity of today's life in Bosnia. N1's team visited East Drvar, a municipality that is becoming interesting in the election year due to the number of voters and candidates. According to the official data of the last census, it has 79 inhabitants but is also has over than 50 candidates for the upcoming local election. However, the reality the local population faces is different and the real problems of citizens of this underdeveloped municipality are present 365 days a year.
Srnetica used to be the largest railway hub in Southeast Europe and a town with some 3,000 workers. The railway in this place was built during the Austro-Hungarian Empire and it was used to export forest. It functioned until the narrow-gauge railway was closed in 1976, after which the entire population left this place. During the war of the ‘90s, it was additionally destroyed.
From Srnetica, an extinct little town, via the forest road towards East Drvar, we meet Stanisa Ruzicic, a forest ranger and an employee of the Klekovaca Forest Farm. He told N1 he was the youngest resident of East Drvar at the age of 65.
“Honestly there are only 15 of us who live here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, here and even that I'm not sure of,” he said.
When asked if any of the permanent residents are candidates in the upcoming elections, he said no.
“These are all Banja Luka residents. None of us living here 365 days a year are running for mayor, not even for the Municipal Assembly,” Ruzicic said.
The Democratic People's Alliance (DNS) candidate calls himself a propper resident of East Drvar despite residents’ claims that his family is from Banja Luka.
“We don't have many inhabitants, we have about 210 voters, but many of them who aren't registered here to vote, who have houses or cottages here, live in Banja Luka. There are a lot of people who exercise their rights through this local community, there are war veterans, disabled war veterans and families of killed soldiers who returned to the Federation (FBiH) entity,” said Zeljko Stvenadic, the DNS's candidate for mayor of Istocni Drvar.
Stevandic never answered how many members does the DNS’ municipal board have.
The current Mayor and candidate of the Native Social Democrats and the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) coalition, Milka Ivankovic, also avoided talking about the numbers. She said stories about the number of residents and voters are malicious, as only two housing units have been renovated here with state funds.
“Of course, the numbers don't matter, this is the property of the Drvar people, which was divided into East Drvar and Drvar in the FBiH entity by the Dayton Peace Agreement, we can't accept that. This is ours, there are returnees here, people have returned to their homes. I have to admit that there are no significant investments in the housing stock here. Everything's been burned here, everything's been destroyed,” said Ivankovic.
Ivankovic said that in the past, the Republika Srpska entity Government built a road to the seat of the municipality and connected it with Ribnik, her wish is to continue the road all the way to Drvar. Also, a new municipal building was built, a memorial service is being made for the fallen soldiers of Drvar in the past three wars, and a water supply network is being built. And, as the biggest future project, Ivankovic wants to build a health centre on Srnetica, because, at 1,000 meters above sea level on the mountain Klekovaca, there used to be an air spa and a health resort for Austro-Hungarian officers.
