http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article ... on-croatiaCroat parties in Bosnia say the election victory of the centre-left coalition will not fundamentally affect their relations with Croatia.
Only a small percentage of the 264,000 registered to vote in the Croatian election did so: some 17,000 in all, just over 6 per cent.
In spite of the low turnout, Croat politicians in Bosnia say their representatives in the Croatian parliament can still make their voices heard.
Bozo Ljubic, leader of HDZ1990, one of the two major Croat parties in Bosnia, said he did not expect Zagreb to change its basic policies vis-a-vis the Bosnian Croats.
“We are going to cooperate with the new government but of course also with the Croatian Democratic Party [the HDZ] in Croatia, which is still a respectable political factor,” Ljubic told Balkan Insight.
The HDZ, led by Jadranka Kosor, lost the general election by a wide margin to the centre-left “Kukuriku” coalition.
HDZ 1990’s sister party, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that interests of Bosnian Croats will be clearly articulated through their three MPs in the Croatian Sabor, shared with HDZ 1990.
"The [election] winners have a responsible job to do and that is Croatia’s accession to European Union,” Miso Relota, spokesman of the Bosnian HDZ, said.
The two major Croatian parties in Bosnia said they would examine why so few Croats in Bosnia had voted in the election.
Their current assumption is that Bosnian Croats are frustrated with their marginalised constitutional position in Bosnia and with the lack of agreement on forming a state government in Bosnia, 14 months after the last general election in Bosnia.
Slavo Kukic, professor from Mostar University, said he expected the Kukuriku coalition to be explicit about the limits of their relations with Bosnian Croats.
“As a citizen of Bosnia I expect the coalition to send a clear message to Bosnian Croats that their capital is Sarajevo and not Zagreb,” Kukic told Balkan Insight.
Professor Kukic said the Croatian government should advise Bosnian Croats not to look across the borders but to seek solutions to their problems inside Bosnia.
