During the pre-election campaign, during numerous political gatherings, during political speeches, and competitions as to who will give a better promise and assurance that “tomorrow will be better”, we are often surprised by the variants, in terms of combination, of political parties that are present at the same events.
It is not unknown that during the pre-election campaign, announcing changes after the election day, coalitions are formed which, according to the rule, should gather around the same ideology or idea. At least that was the rule before.
On the other hand, we have the formation of coalitions that, as it may seem to the observer, are established in order to achieve a higher goal that will only bring an individual from a certain political party, within that coalition, to a better position.
One such fresh example is the speech of the mayor of Zenica and the president of the Bosnia and Herzegovina initiative (BHI-KF) Fuad Kasumovic, who publicly called the People’s European Union (NES) a criminal organization at a pre-election meeting, which would not be “strange” if these two political options had not gathered around the same idea, which is the support for Denis Becirovic, a candidate for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
So, for each other, they are criminals, but in some other political context, they claim that they are correct and that they stand behind the idea of supporting Becirovic.
Public perception
Asim Mujkic, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences University of Sarajevo (UNSA), spoke about what it looks like for the people who need to make a choice and vote for the right political option.
Mujkic also agreed that the essence of a coalition that operates during election campaigns, but also in politics in general, is gathering around the same ideology. What we, however, do not see on the domestic political scene.
”What we see in coalitions, not only in this year’s elections, are the presidents of political parties who are individualized. Consequently, the parties in these coalitions are mostly individualized with the help of their leader’s personality, and virtually all of these coalitions depend on personal relationships. No quality platform can be built on that, which can, in a credible way, challenge the existing structures,” professor Mujkic states.
According to Mujkic, the problem may arise because the people vote – not only because they see a quality alternative – but to vote against the current government. This, according to everything, gives space to coalitions that, in their gathering, prioritize mutual relations, rather than political ideas.
”We vote against those who are now in power to punish them, so to speak, without any great expectations and hopes when it comes to some new group that will get the vote and which will probably be punished again in four years. This is a symptom of an underdeveloped political culture, not only of citizens but also of political entities, and no alternative can be built on such a principle of voting against,” Asim Mujkic concludes, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
