BOSNIAN NATIONALISTS THRIVE

Opinion polls suggest Bosnian nationalist parties will triumph once more in forthcoming general elections

By Edina Becirevic and Adnan Buturovic from Sarajevo (BCR No. 186, 17-Oct-00)

(...)

The Independent Media Commission, which is closely linked to the OHR, has withdrawn broadcasting permissions from two national TV channels, Erotel, Croatian TV, which was under the editorial control of the HDZ, and Bosniak TV, which is very close to the Muslim Party of Democratic Action, SDA. The election campaign, which officially started on September 27, reflects the general economic crisis in BiH and the downturn in international donations. Most parties will have relatively modest election campaigns this year. A popular strategy will be "going for a cup of coffee" with people, a tactic that worked well in the election that brought in President Stipe Mesic in Croatia. The SDS is going to run a traditional election campaign, with rallies in the towns and villages of Republika Srpska and a central rally in Banja Luka.

The HDZ, on the eve of elections, is launching a new weekly magazine "BH Today" which will be financed by the radical wing of the Catholic Church and strictly controlled by the HDZ. However, the HDZ is facing pre-electoral embarrassments as the federal police supported by Stabilisation Force troops have arrested several people closely affiliated with the top HDZ officials. In addition, police in Croatia detained General Ivan Andabak, closely associated with Mladen Naletilic Tuta, who is accused of war crimes by The Hague.

Andabak is the main suspect in the murder of Jozo Leutar, the Bosnian Federation's deputy minister of interior affairs, who was killed in a car bombing in March 1999. At the time of the Leutar murder, Croat member of the Bosnian presidency Ante Jelavic launched a media campaign in which, without any proof, he accused the Bosniak side in the Federation interior ministry of organizing the killing. A UN investigation indicates that Leutar, a Bosnian Croat, was murdered by Croat nationals. This could not have come at a worse time for Jelavic and the HDZ whose election campaign plays up the vulnerability of the Croat minority. Edina Becirevic and Adnan Buturovic are IWPR contributors

taken from IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 186, October 17, 2000

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