Bosanski Petrovac Municipality is a local community with probably the biggest political pluralism in the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina. As much as 12 out of 13 parties that participated in the local elections in this town will enter the future Municipal Council.
Election of mayor in this municipality also shows that this situation is not weird at all and that people of Bosanski Petrovac are not burdened with dominant national parties.
Namely, according to the latest population census from 2013, Serbs (54.5 percent) still outnumber the Bosniaks (43.4 percent) in this municipality. Taking into consideration the plain logic of things in BiH, dead race for mayor position should have been led between Serb and Bosniak candidates. However, that is not the case in Bosanski Petrovac.
Zlatko Hujić, current Mayor of Bosanski Petrovac, renewed his second term in these elections as an independent candidate, achieving a convincing victory against the candidates of SNSD and SDA-SBB.
“Variegated BiH came to the surface in Bosanski Petrovac. I am proud of winning many Serb and Bosniak votes in these elections. My heart is full because of that structure of votes, which is much richer than before,” Hujić said.
Significant return of Bosniaks and Serbs to this municipality right has been registered right after the war, unlike many other municipalities and cities in BiH. Nationalistic bigotry and divisions are now almost unknown to this town and Bosanski Petrovac slowly gains the epithet of a town that can serve as an example of true co-existence, but also of a place where religion, nation, or any other kind of individual or collective determinant does not play an important role in the social and political life of citizens.
(Source: klix.ba)
