UNION OF UBSD AND SDP

New party for the New Era

AIM Sarajevo, 20 January, 1998

Political statistics of the old continent says that, after the election of the president of the Party of Independent Social Democrats, Milorad Dodik, for prime minister in the Republic of Srpska, the Social Democrats are in power in twelve most powerful countries of western Europe and in 49 per cent of Bosnia & Herzegovina! On the other hand, in the Dayton remainder of this state, in the Federation of B&H, the Union of B&H Social Democrats (UBSD) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) have finally come closer to the goal they set a long time ago - after the latest interpartisan talks of the UBSD and the SDP, it seems that these two parties will quite certainly unite, and that the only thing that remains to be decided is the future name of the joint party of Social Democrats of B&H.

Of course, there is no question about it that uniting of B&H Social Democrats is still more the imperative of the international community than the result of political maturity of the leadership of the two parties, each of which likes to say about itself that it is the most powerful opposition party referring to absolute power in two federal municipalities (UBSD) or numerous participants in the authorities of several municipalities (SDP). After all, the increasing criticism on account of the current B&H establishment as the main obstacle to implementation of the Dayton accords, and numerous appearances of high international statesmen, especially Clinton's in Sarajevo, were nothing else but an appeal for new political partners who will carry out the Dayton accords, democratize this territory and lead Bosnia & Herzegovina into the 21st century as a state of stable peace and unquestionable prospects for the future.

In this way the international community is solving disunion of the alternative in B&H, which has with its mutual antagonism confused the public opinion of B&H and prevented them from taking the opposition more seriously instead of directing the voters to lay confidence solely in one or the other party. It was very difficult for the citizens of Bosnia & Herzegovina, who are disappointed and embittered with the current authorities, to understand why representatives of similar political options before each elections became more of competitors to each other than oppositionists to the seven-year rule of the SDS-HDZ-SDA coalition, so that their abstention from the elections or inertia of voting for those who share responsibility for the B&H Golgotha is quite a logical result of activities of the alternative so far. On the other hand, even with due respect for the entire political engagement of the the leaders of the SDP or the UBSD, any even superficial poll among Bosnian and Herzegovinians would yield a larger number of incorrect than correct answers to the question to which of these parties Beslagic, Lagumdzija, Tokic or Bogicevic belong to.

But, readiness for union expressed by the two Social Democratic parties, especially the SDP which has stopped criticising the projects and activities of the shadow cabinet and contacts with the alternative from RS, is with no doubt praise-worthy. Indeed, formation of a joint social democratic party will not result only in creation of a modern strong opposition which will unite the electorate discontented with the present situation in the country, but it will activate and win over a series of prominent intellectuals such as Zdravko Grebo, Gajo Sekulic, Ivan Lovrenovic, Zeljko Ivankovic, who have to this day refused to join either of these parties.

A party in which Selim Beslagic, Zlatko Lagumdzija, Mile Marceta and Sejfudin Tokic will be together, and which along with the listed independent intellectuals, could have in its council a series of others from both B&H entities, could be the most serious candidate for taking over power in the elections which await us in autumn this year. Since the new united party, according to the current indications, will offer a similar program of uniting to the social democratic parties in the Republic of Srpska - primarily to M. Dodik, M. Zivanovic (Social Liberal Party), Mile Marceta (Party of the citizens of Drvar, the presence of which due to its coalition with the UBSD is not at all questioned) - it seems that Bosnia & Herzegovina could get such an altrenative which will be able to remove from the political scene the war protagonists and their accomplices, and finally penetrate through the darkness in this part of the Balkans. That is what the authors of the peace solution for Bosnia & Herzegovina, and its citizens, are desperately seeking. The citizens, as Clinton says, deserve it, and that which we call the international community is more and more openly expressing stands that national parties should be removed from the top of the political scene in B&H.

Union of the two social democratic parties in B&H Federation which has been announced for a long time, has been accelerated in the past few days and brought to the very end - if we go back to the beginning of this article - especially after the change of political configuration in RS, is a serious announcement of acute political disturbances in the Federation as well. This is especially true because this year will be the year of elections in B&H, and in last-year's September elections, social democracy has just announced its political ascent. United, it could could come out from this year's elections more powerful, even if not victorious.

Drazena PERANIC

(AIM, Sarajevo)