ASSOCIATED LIST: THEY WON THE ELECTION BY LIES

AIM Sarajevo - "The Associated List of B&H has achieved a successful result in the elections", stated Zlatko Lagumdzija, Vice-President of the Social Democratic Party of B&H and newly elected deputy in the Parliament of B&H, at the press conference of the Associated List in Sarajevo.

The coalition of five opposition parties (Union of B&H Social Democrats-UBSD, Social Democratic Party-SDP, Croat Peasants' Party-HSS, Muslim Bosniac Organization-MBO and Republican Party), according to preliminary results of the elections, is the sixth political party according to size in the Assembly of Republika Srpska out of nine which will form it, it is the fourth in the Parliament of B&H, and the third in the Parliament of the Federation.

Selim Beslagic, President of the Union of B&H Social Democrats (UBSD) and member of the Parliament of the Federation of B&H, said that the Associated List was satisfied with the achieved results, because it turned out that, apart from the national parties, there were three parties which form the force of this people - the Associated List, the Party for B&H and the Alliance for Peace and Progress in Republika Srpska. Reagrdless of irregularities during the elections, the Associated List will accept the results. Its candidates are present on almost all the levels from the Parliament of the Federation, Parliament of B&H to the Parliament of RS.

The Associated List formed of five opposition parties will, according to Beslagic's words, continue to act together, it will participate in all the debates in parliaments and it will try to direct the ruling parties.

"We will be cooperative with all the opposition parties in the parliament and we will try to give a maximum contribution to reintegration of B&H", said Beslagic.

According to the words of Zlatko Lagumdzija, the Associated List will continue to operate according to the program it presented to the voters in the election campaign. In the immediate future of B&H, there are two key issues: opening of the process of reintegration and democratization of the whole territory of B&H. He congratulated the winners of the elections, men who were chosen in the Presidency of B&H and those who will form the majority in the parliaments.

"We wish to express special gratitude to all the citizens of B&H who had the courage, the sense and who believed in us", said Vice-President of the SDP. "For us, they are the real winners of these elections and their votes are a great obligation for us. We especcially thank the citizens of Tuzla, Sarajevo and Zenica region, because the greatest support to the Associated List came from these three centres. This does not diminish our gratitude to people from environments which are, unfortunately, still ruled by terror and in which there is no freedom of political action".

The Associated List will, as Lagumdzija sys, fight so that the idea of reintegration and democratization of B&H is implemented through organized and institutionalized return of people to their homes, punishment of war criminals regardless of who they are and what they are doing now, and creation of preconditions for greater political freedon on the entire territory of B&H.

The coalition of five opposition parties will insist on the process of all-inclusive reconstruction of B&H which ought to be directly connected with the degree of democratization of its individual parts. Economic reconstruction and revival should open the process of reintegration.

"We will fight for the state-controlled media to be really state-controlled, and not single-party", stated Lagumdzija. "All sorts of assistance should be offered to independent media. Reason for that can be clearly seen in election results. We have observed by analysis that the Associated List won the greatest number of votes in environments where independent media are comparatively well-developed."

A message was addressed to representatives of the international community which says that the first task is to constitute newly elected institutions, because obstructions have already appeared. The Associated List will, according to his words, struggle to give the parliaments back the role it belongs to them.

"We will do our best to make these assemblies similar to the one which existed six years ago and see to it that the deja vu never happens again, but that it becomes the assembly of people who wish well to this country", said Lagumdzija.

The Associated List showed that there is the alternative in B&H to those who wanted to "close the door" to B&H as a state of equal citizens and draw them into division.

The candidate of the Croat Peasants' Party and the Associated List for the Presidency o B&H, Ivo Komsic, expressed satisfaction for having won a significant number of votes in some municipalities which were closed to presentation of the political program of the Associated List during the election campaign.

"This is support to the idea backed by the Associated List and a signal that we must work and politically be active in these regions", stressed Komsic.

Political absolutism and fascism of the ruling parties was truncated by these elections. They will not be able to demonstrate political power any more and speak to themselves in the parliaments they had formed.

"The ruling parties have won the elections by lies", he said. "The SDS founded its propaganda on the idea that RS would be annexed to Yugoslavia. This is a lie, because that is not possible according to Dayton accords. They did not say the truth to the Serb people, and this is turned against them who will learn the truth too late. The HDZ won the elections with lies, too. In its propaganda it used ideas about strengthening of the Federation of B&H and coexistence with the others. At the same time, they worked on desintegration of the Federation and moving of the Croats from central Bosnia to the region between Popovo Polje valley and Drvar. The SDA has also won the elections by lies, because it advocated reintegration of B&H, but made all its pre-election gatherings with such iconography and aggressiveness that they could scare away the few non-Bosniacs left in B&H".

Komsic stressed that the task of the Associated List was to fight for the truth about the war, about responsibility for it and the truth about the future of B&H.

The job of the Associated List, as Stjepan Kljujic, President of the Republican Party, believes, has been made easier because national parties have agreed to reintegration of B&H. Formation of institutions in accordance with the Dayton accords means abandoning the idea of its division.

"Return of people to their homes must be carried out by those who had sent them away", he said. "In Western Europe, suitcases are already being packed and the citizens must return. The Associated List will pursue politics which will force the national parties to reach an agreement".

The real opportunity for the idea of the Associated List are elections in 1998, because it turned out that significant opposition forces are appearing in the Serb entity. Reintegration of B&H will take place much faster than it seemed at first.

According to the words of Mujo Kafedzic, Vice-President of the MBO, during the elections there were many dishonest games, stealing of votes and preventing people to go to the polls. The role of RTV B&H was also dishonourable, because in the most popular hours it broadcast contribution from pre-election gatherings of the SDA, while the Associated List was pushed aside.

"We must open the eyes of the citizens and unmask all delusions", he said in the end.