Bosnia Croat Parties Unite Before Elections

Fuente: 
BalkanInsight
Fecha de publicación: 
04 Feb 2014

Several Bosnian Croatian parties have decided to run together in the October general elections so as to best protect the community's interests.

The Croatian People's Assembly - a Bosnian Croat umbrella group - has said that most Croatian parties will go into the general elections in October together, in order to protect the best interests of the community. 

Bozo Ljubic, head of the Croatian People's Assembly, also said on Monday that the member parties would not form any "illegitimate" coalitions following the elections. 

Dragan Covic, chief of the main Croatian party in Bosnia, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, said the parties in the People's Assembly had agreed that the final details regarding the united stand in the elections would follow at a later session. 

Martin Raguz, president of HDZ 1990, the second largest Croat party in Bosnia, said the parties should stand together in elections as the position of the Croats in Bosnia was increasingly endangered.

The Croatian People's Assembly, which unites several Croatian parties, was founded by the HDZ, and its sister party, HDZ 1990, after the two parties failed to be included in the Federation entity government in 2011.

Aside from their dissatisfaction over not being represented in the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the parties in the Croatian People's Assembly also dispute the legitimacy of the Croat member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency.

 Zeljko Komsic was elected to the presidency as a Social Democrat and - according to the Croat parties, mainly by Bosniak [Muslim], not Croat, votes.

Bosniaks far outnumber Croats in the Federation entity - prompting claims that Croats are outvoted routinely as well as sparking calls for a separate Croat entity.

 

Source/Fuente: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosnia-croat-parties-unite-befor...

Autor: Elvira M. Jukic