A new Party for the People of Pazar

A Split within SDA

AIM Belgrade, January 21, 2000

With his announced intention to form a new party, Fevzija Muric, until recent President of Ugljanin's SDA Sanjak, has made it public that a split has occurred in Ugljanin's until now sacrosanct party. This seems the most serious schism in the ten years of its existence. At least judging by what has reached the public these days, Muric holds it against Ugljanin for pushing the problems of Sanjak to the margins" assessing that "the political scene of Sanjak has never been so feeble". He promised to do everything for "the establishment of the region of Sanjak and constitutional-legal definition of Bosniacs as a nation".

Since July 1990, when it was founded and conceived as a party of all Bosniacs, until today, the Party of Democratic Actions (SDA) from Novi Pazar did not manage to recover from "childhood diseases" of multi-partyism trying to keep at all costs the political monopoly and authority it won in the first days of its founding.

Namely, the local Bosniac people have identified themselves with its policy and faithfully followed its leader Sulejman Ugljanin, whose rude and tactless statements frequently showed that he was just a bench player who suddenly found himself at the helm of the masses and feeling their power led them. Few years later, an ideological breakup occurred in the SDA ranks between Ugljanin and Rasim Ljajic (the current Minister of National Minorities in the Federal Government) who left the party after which it disintegrated into two wings: a hard-core wing and a moderate one. After winning local power at 1996 elections, the personnel policy of Sulejman Ugljanin's SDA favoured Bosniacs in local authorities which was at odds with the national structure of primarily Novi Pazar.

Naturally, this served as a reason to the ruling SPS to replace the legally elected authorities on July 10, 1997 and place it under compulsory administration. The then President of the municipality and the current pretender to a new party, Fevzija Muric gave another reason the former regime to arrogantly introduce the compulsory administration: in his office he kept the unofficial (meaning party) flag of Sanjak.

The compulsory administration in the commune of Novi Pazar remained in force until last September 23, when the former authorities were defeated at both federal and local elections in Serbia and SDA - List for Sanjak "Dr Sulejman Ugljanin" once again succeeded in winning back the municipal power after scoring a new electoral victory. Ugljanin's party did not take part in the last republican elections so that the winner was DOS in cooperation with local parties.

It seems that Ugljanin's personnel policy has once again become a bone of contention, but this time within the party ranks. Apart from dissatisfied deputies and high party officials (most of whom are also members of the party's Main Board) who have announced the formation of a new party, have reproached Sulejman Ugljanin "for continued violation of the Programme, Statutes and decisions of SDA, disrespect of differences in opinions and undemocratic way of decision-making and running the party, wrong post-electoral policy, constant provoking and causing of conflicts within the party and in Sanjak, etc." All of them, led by Dr Fevzija Muric, have resigned from all functions and withdrew from SDA membership.

This split came like a bolt from the blue for the local public since, along with Sulejman Ugljanin, Fevzija Muric and Azem Hajdarevic, for example, were a synonym of SDA Sanjak. Although it can not be denied that for some time now resolved attempts were at introducing authoritarianism within SDA, a stronger reason for resignations and withdrawals from the party might be the dissatisfaction with personnel policy and distribution of functions in the municipality. The new municipal president is Vasvija Gusinac, professor and translator, while Nedzib Hodzic, Sulejman Ugljanin's former driver and bodyguard, was appointed vice-president. It seems that in this case party affiliation and merits came before knowledge and qualifications, and the promise that this practice will be discontinued with the toppling of the former regime, was forgotten.

"We were forced to do this", says Dr Muric considering it quite natural for him to withdraw from an organisation "which by itself has become destructive and not only because of its programme, but also on account of all those ideas which the majority of Bosniacs in Sanjak are committed to, namely: the struggle for the preservation of identity and status of Bosniacs within FRY and political fight for the resolution of the status of the region of Sanjak. At the most recent elections a single round knockout system was applied, and had the second round been organised no more than 18 SDA deputies would have been elected to the municipal Assembly of Novi Pazar".

"We had deputies who won by two, four or similar number of votes and that is why I do not consider the last elections a victory for SDA, but rather its great defeat. Some people do not even wish for the party to adjust to new democratic changes just for the sake of keeping the power, authority and influence in the party". He promises that the new party "will act on the new, democratic foundations and principles and struggle for the political and all other rights of Bosniacs".

His party colleague Azem Hajdarevic has similar opinion when he criticises the work of the party to date: "The policy presently pursued by SDA in Sanjak is contrary to the programme and principles of SDA Sanjak which enjoyed the support of the majority of Bosniacs in the last ten years..."

Immediately after their statement on the withdrawal from SDA, the party headquarters reacted and informed the public through the media that "regarding the three times repeated attempt of a group of deputies to prevent the holding of the Municipal Assembly of Novi Pazar, at its session of November 18, 2000 the Executive Board of the Municipal branch of SDA Sanjak for Novi Pazar, initiated the procedure for their expulsion from the part. They are accused of actively working since October 8, 2000 at persuading new deputies to boycott the work of the Municipal Assembly of Novi Pazar. In conjunction with eleven SPS deputies who have also been blocking the work of the Municipal Assembly of Novi Pazar, this means a constant threat to the work of the municipal authorities which might lead to the introduction of compulsory administration".

The "rebels" have been accused of blocking the Assembly work which, in the opinion of the party leadership, could have resulted in the introduction of compulsory administration. The press release further said that this was all beyond limits of party discipline "and since it directly relates to the Constitution and the law, criminal proceedings will be instituted against Azem Hajdarevic and Dr Fevzija Muric".

Actually, the Sanjak political pot started boiling immediately after the new municipal authorities were constituted. The until-yesterday closest associates of Sulejman Ugljanin got fed up and embarked upon new political path, a new political struggle hoping to right a wrong that was done to them. Dr Fevzija Muric has announced the constituting session of the new Part for Sanjak for January 28, this year. The top ranks of SDA - List for Sanjak "Dr Sulejman Ugljanin" are not sitting on their hands either. It has been rumored that they have started regrouping their ranks, reorganising the party's work and analysing and summing up everything achieved in the post-electoral period hoping to score new political points in this way.

Public reactions to the move of until-yesterday SDA members and deputies range from approval to condemnation, depending on political orientation, level of political awareness and national affiliation. It is certain that in Dr Fevzija Muric, Sulejman Ugljanin will have a serious political opponent who enjoys high reputation in the town and towards whom quite a large number of Bosniacs feel strong inclination respecting him for his political lucidity and skills. At last September's elections, despite its victory in several communes of Sanjak, SDA - List for Sanjak "Dr Sulejman Ugljanin" won far less votes than ever before. That was a sure sign that since 1990 till today the people have notably matured politically and that SDA was no longer the absolute political front runner in these parts and that the struggle for local power will be much more uncertain in the near future. This is corroborated by the fact which, according to unofficial data, shows that a large number of SDA members joined Dr Fevzija Muric's Party for Sanjak at the very beginning.

What will the new balance of power and the political picture of Sanjak look like in future, is hard to tell. Today in Sanjak, apart from SAD - List for Sanjak "Dr Sulejman Ugljanin", one should count on Rasim Ljajic's SDP and DOS.

Fikret Medagic

(AIM)