Djamila
Bosnjakinja
Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be going to polls next month for a federal election and its shaping up to be one of the most interesting ones so far.
There is a single main issue at the front of everyone's mind: The constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically one portion: the Dayton Peace Accords.
The Dayton Peace Accords were signed in 1995 and brought an end to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in the eyes of most Bosnians it was not a just peace. The accords awarded Orthodox Christians control of 49% of Bosnia and Herzegovina's territory, the area they had ethnically cleansed of Muslims, Roman Catholics, Jews, and other non-Orthodox Christians.
This portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina is known as the Republika Srpska (Serbian Republic). In the eyes of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, it is a false entity established on the bodies of their loved ones. In the eyes of moderate Orthodox Christians, it is - as the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina - a hopeless bureaucracy that must be streamlined.
The Dayton Peace Accords do two things. Firstly, they enshrine in law the existence of the Republika Srpska. Secondly, they forbid the government of the Republika Srpska from ever declaring independence or joining Serbia. Thus dismantling the Dayton Peace Accords is a dangerous gamble for politicians on all sides.
Orthodox Christian leaders like Milorad Dodik are running on a platform of securing the independence of the Republika Srpska as compensation to the Serbian people for Kosovo's anticipated independence. The international community has already stated such a move will not be tolerated. His terminology is also highly offensive to Bosnian Muslims and Roman Catholics. Whenever Bosnian cities were conquered and their non-Orthodox Christian people executed or driven away, the cities were declared "Gifts to the Serbian people" on elaborate, televized ceremonies.
Muslim leaders like Sulejman Tihic are also increasing their rhetoric. He said last week that those Orthodox Christians who want to be Serbians can pack their bags and move to Serbia. He has also submitted a law suit against Serbia seeking compensation for genocide and war crimes committed against Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war. Among the compensation requested of the International Criminal Court is the abolishment of the Republika Srpska.
All of this is made all the more complex because the Republika Srpska is no longer the Orthodox Christian mini-state it was at the end of the war in 1995. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Roman Catholics have returned to their pre-war homes and in many regions of the Republika Srpska they now constitute a majority once again.
Additionally, internally displaced refugees in Bosnia will be able to vote in their districts of origin in this election and Croatian refugees will not be allowed to vote. To demonstrate what this means: The 60,000 Muslims who were driven from Banja Luka in 1992 but now live in Sarajevo will be able to vote for the Muslim candidate in Banja Luka. The 112,000 Orthodox Christians living in Banja Luka who have Croatian but not Bosnian citizenship won't be able to vote at all.
Couple this with break-throughs in cities like Doboj and Prijedor, in which even Orthodox Christians are expected to vote en-masse for moderate parties that include Muslims and Roman Catholics, and it becomes very clear that the government of the Republika Srpska will no longer be controlled by Orthodox Christian nationalists and their Serbian Radical Party.
In the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Muslim parties typically dominate the election results. They include the highly nationalist (but not fundamentalist) Social Democratic Party:
The Social Democratic Action Party is for Bosnian Muslims what the Republican Party is for Evangelical Christians. Even though the party includes people of every imaginable background, their policies and political goals are closely controlled by Muslims.
Another party popular with Muslims and Roman Catholics is the Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This party is more secular but is also strongly Muslim-based. It is known as the "women's party" in Bosnia and Herzegovina since it is extremely popular with the female demographic.
"For freedom, peace, truth, and economic prosperity"
The main Roman Catholic-only party is the Croat Nationalist Party. It is reviled by most Muslims and Orthodox Christians in Bosnia but if people sat down and took a close look at their policies, without having the immediate knee-jerk reaction to the party's name, they would see they're only barely in the top 10 worst parties in Bosnia. They're not Satan incarnate.
So there's a lot riding on this election, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out. Polls so far have predicted an overwhelming victory for the Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
There is a single main issue at the front of everyone's mind: The constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically one portion: the Dayton Peace Accords.
The Dayton Peace Accords were signed in 1995 and brought an end to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in the eyes of most Bosnians it was not a just peace. The accords awarded Orthodox Christians control of 49% of Bosnia and Herzegovina's territory, the area they had ethnically cleansed of Muslims, Roman Catholics, Jews, and other non-Orthodox Christians.
This portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina is known as the Republika Srpska (Serbian Republic). In the eyes of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, it is a false entity established on the bodies of their loved ones. In the eyes of moderate Orthodox Christians, it is - as the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina - a hopeless bureaucracy that must be streamlined.
The Dayton Peace Accords do two things. Firstly, they enshrine in law the existence of the Republika Srpska. Secondly, they forbid the government of the Republika Srpska from ever declaring independence or joining Serbia. Thus dismantling the Dayton Peace Accords is a dangerous gamble for politicians on all sides.
Orthodox Christian leaders like Milorad Dodik are running on a platform of securing the independence of the Republika Srpska as compensation to the Serbian people for Kosovo's anticipated independence. The international community has already stated such a move will not be tolerated. His terminology is also highly offensive to Bosnian Muslims and Roman Catholics. Whenever Bosnian cities were conquered and their non-Orthodox Christian people executed or driven away, the cities were declared "Gifts to the Serbian people" on elaborate, televized ceremonies.
Muslim leaders like Sulejman Tihic are also increasing their rhetoric. He said last week that those Orthodox Christians who want to be Serbians can pack their bags and move to Serbia. He has also submitted a law suit against Serbia seeking compensation for genocide and war crimes committed against Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war. Among the compensation requested of the International Criminal Court is the abolishment of the Republika Srpska.
All of this is made all the more complex because the Republika Srpska is no longer the Orthodox Christian mini-state it was at the end of the war in 1995. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Roman Catholics have returned to their pre-war homes and in many regions of the Republika Srpska they now constitute a majority once again.
Additionally, internally displaced refugees in Bosnia will be able to vote in their districts of origin in this election and Croatian refugees will not be allowed to vote. To demonstrate what this means: The 60,000 Muslims who were driven from Banja Luka in 1992 but now live in Sarajevo will be able to vote for the Muslim candidate in Banja Luka. The 112,000 Orthodox Christians living in Banja Luka who have Croatian but not Bosnian citizenship won't be able to vote at all.
Couple this with break-throughs in cities like Doboj and Prijedor, in which even Orthodox Christians are expected to vote en-masse for moderate parties that include Muslims and Roman Catholics, and it becomes very clear that the government of the Republika Srpska will no longer be controlled by Orthodox Christian nationalists and their Serbian Radical Party.
In the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Muslim parties typically dominate the election results. They include the highly nationalist (but not fundamentalist) Social Democratic Party:
The Social Democratic Action Party is for Bosnian Muslims what the Republican Party is for Evangelical Christians. Even though the party includes people of every imaginable background, their policies and political goals are closely controlled by Muslims.
Another party popular with Muslims and Roman Catholics is the Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This party is more secular but is also strongly Muslim-based. It is known as the "women's party" in Bosnia and Herzegovina since it is extremely popular with the female demographic.
"For freedom, peace, truth, and economic prosperity"
The main Roman Catholic-only party is the Croat Nationalist Party. It is reviled by most Muslims and Orthodox Christians in Bosnia but if people sat down and took a close look at their policies, without having the immediate knee-jerk reaction to the party's name, they would see they're only barely in the top 10 worst parties in Bosnia. They're not Satan incarnate.
So there's a lot riding on this election, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out. Polls so far have predicted an overwhelming victory for the Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
So we'll see!
