On December 1st Bosnian investigative news site Istraga.ba broke the news that Bosnian state police was conducting raids on several locations in both Srebrenica and Tuzla. Among the locations searched was the Srebrenica municipal building, the police were looking for evidence of election fraud in the municipality. The three main suspects, according to information collected by Istraga.ba were Bego Bektić, Enver Hamzić and Muamer Sandžić. All three Bosniaks and all three members of SDP, the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bego Bektić is the head of SDP in Srebrenica and the first name on the SDP voter list for Srebrenica.
According to Bosnian police the three men stole the identity of several Bosniaks who were later fraudulently registered to be citizens of Serbia and registered as eligible to vote by mail. This was done in order to help both Bego Bektić and the SDP as well as the Serb nationalist mayor of Srebrenica Mladen Grujičić.
The three men stole identities of Bosniaks living in Srebrenica, the Netherlands, France, the United States, Denmark and Germany, all registered to vote in Srebrenica. Allegedly using copies of identification cards the men were able to falsify records and add these people to the list of those living in Serbia, registering them on fictitious addresses and then making sure their votes went to SDP BiH in Srebrenica as well to Mladen Grujičić, the current mayor of Srebrenica, a Serb nationalist and a vocal genocide denier.
The long and often uphill struggle to make sure a Serb extremist and a genocide denier is not elected as mayor of Srebrenica has been dealt several serious blows over the years by above all SDP BiH. This latest scandal being probably the most brazen. As Istraga.ba point out in their report SDP BiH was the only party in Sarajevo that did not fall in line behind Alija Tabaković as the “pro-Bosnian” candidate in Srebrenica.
On Saturday, 5th of december, head of SDP BiH, Nermin Nikšić went on TV to try and answer some of the criticism against him and his party, including calls for his resignation. One of the topics mentioned was the highly controversial Residence Act or Residence Law ( Zakon o prebivalištu) passed in 2013 and which came into force in 2015.
Critics of the Act, which was passed with the help of SDP BiH and Fahrudin Radončić´s SBB in July 2013 just a few days after the annual commemoration for the victims of Srebrenica, claimed then it would hurt Bosniak returnees and more or less stop the flow of Bosniaks returning to their pre-war towns and villages. As well making it practically impossible to register to vote in local elections. De facto finalizing and solidifying the war-time goals of the Serb nationalists and extremists, which was the removal of Bosniaks from parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and an ethnically pure Serb state. I should add, parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina where Bosniaks were mostly in the majority prior to the Bosnian genocide, like the Drina Valley or North West Bosnia.
The Residence Act is considered as one of Milorad Dodik´s biggest political triumphs and he didn’t have to wait long for results. A year after it came into power, in 2016, Mladen Gruijčić was elected mayor of Srebrenica.
The latest developments certainly cast a long shadow on SDP BiH and their activities. Despite being the darling of Western NGO’s and being propped up by some Bosnian activists and commentators in Western Europe and the United States as an alternative to the ethno-nationalist parties along with Naša Stranka ( Our Party) their results in the last few election cycles have to be considered disastrous. It’s fairly clear that the party is out of touch with the voters, that is with the voters it has a chance with. Those in the BiH Federation, and primarily Bosniak.
The party has tried to tailor it´s message to suite Western policy makers, donors and some political commentators, both foreign and domestic. Some of those commentators see SDP BiH and Naša Stranka as advancing more civic-oriented politics and away from nationalism. While I broadly agree, I have to wonder if these parties know what they are doing? Serb and Croat voters across the country keep voting for mostly nationalistic parties with a strong clerical, separatist and irredentist bent while SDP BiH keeps sliding further into a quagmire of its own making.
And while Serb and Croat voters continue to vote for nationalistic parties who loudly promote separatism, clericalism, war crimes and genocide denial, Serb and Croat nationalist commentators and political activists have over the last few years cleary recognized the potential SDP BiH has for advancing their separatist goals and revisionist narratives. This is most obvious when it comes to recent Bosnian history, particularly war-time history and the role of both Serbia and Croatia as well removing obstacles in Sarajevo for peacefully achieving Greater Serb and Greater Croat war-time goals. Many Serb and Croat nationalist politicians, commentators and activists regularly cosy up to SDP and Naša Stranka activists online. This is not a coincidence.
To be clear, I am not accusing these two parties of knowingly trying to facilitate Serb and Croat separatist goals. The main Bosniak party the SDA has a long history of corruption and cooperation with Serb and Croat nationalists too, particularly on the local level. I am simply stating the obvious.
Back in March 2019 I wrote a three part series (in Bosnian) on the role of SDP BiH as useful idiots of Serb and by extension Croat extremists in Bosnia and Herzegovina: (1,2,3)
BH Chronicles 
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