The citizens of Bihac are electing a new mayor today. The position remained vacant after Suhret Fazlic accepted a mandate in the Assembly of the Una-Sana Canton (USC), and five candidates are fighting for the position of the first man of the city.
The migrant crisis in Bihac has subsided. The increasing departure of young people, unemployment… are just some of the problems that have surfaced in the meantime, and which await the new mayor. For the third year already, Bihac, which used to be considered a sports city, does not even have a Sports Hall. Work on the reconstruction of the existing one has stopped due to disagreements between the City Administration and the contractor.
”We are already missing one Olympic cycle, not to mention those generations that were yet to enter sports. Sports clubs, coaches manage in other smaller halls in Bihac or smaller municipalities, it is really lacking and this is a big handicap for all athletes, culture, and other events that take place,” points out Ermin Lipovic, director of the Public Institution for Sport, Rest, and Recreation in Bihac.
Statistics show that Bihac is not a great place to live today. From 2015 to today, 6.000 people have left this city. A one-way ticket to the West is not bought by the hungry, but by those who are full of everything. And Suad Balic’s sons were also full of everything. He sent the four of them away.
”I would like my house to be full, I have five grandchildren, and I have to go 1.000 kilometers to see them. A friend of mine told me: ”Suad, it’s better to miss them than to pity them”. Not one of them could find a job here. They were probably worn out by the protection during employment,” Suad says.
There are five candidates in the race for mayor. Three are party candidates, and two are independent.
Adnan Habibija, Hamdija Abdic, Amarildo Mulic, Damir Djug or Elvedin Sedic. Who will lead Bihac in the next two years will be known today. Out of a total of 58.000 voters, more than 1.300 are registered to vote abroad.
E.Dz.
