The female election candidates did not manage, yet again, to exceed the percentage of mandates that has been repeated from elections to elections and has become a fatal and invisible, but a firm boundary that female candidates of Bosnia and Herzegovina have not succeeded in crossing. (05-DEC-06)

This article, written by Milkica Milojevic, journalist, first appeared in the last issue of the Journal of the BH Helsinki Committee. It has been translated for publication here by HRH / Mirsad Pandzic. Cartoon: Stefanovic

As far as women are concerned, there is almost no difference between the past elections and those of two, four, six years ago. The female candidates, with help of the legally stipulated quotas, have once again won the famous 17 per cent of mandates in assemblies and parliaments. This 17 per cent, which has been repeated from elections to elections, seem as if it has become a fatal and invisible, but a firm boundary that female election candidates in Bosnia and Herzegovina have yet not succeeded in crossing.

Men’s Campaign
Frankly speaking, women have held in the previous mandate around 20 per cent of power in parliaments, but only because men, who were the front men on the lists of candidates, had left for positions with more political power after the elections, to become ministers or directors, while women were expected to fill the vacant seats in the parliaments. For instance, the People’s Assembly of Republika Srpska had 20 female deputies, but only 14 were directly elected at the elections. Not a single woman was elected for one of the top positions this time either, for a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or the president and vice presidents of Republika Srpska. Not a single woman among the four female candidates for these positions (three independent and one party-nominated), according to the elections results, was even considered a serious nominee: all have won less than one per cent of votes.

Other indicators related to the past elections show that the usual pattern is repeating. There was not a lot of space for female candidates behind the speakers’ stands during the parties’ election campaigns, on TV debates, and very rarely on billboards. Even anonymous female candidates seem to have had the most success again on lists of the biggest and most successful political parties, which means that their success was mostly a consequence of the success of the party or the party leaders. These elections have once again failed to produce a strong female leader, which means that the position of “a solid female parliamentarian” remains the biggest achievement of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s politics.

– Considering efforts of the non-governmental sector targeting greater participation of women in politics, we cannot be happy with the election results – the Chairwoman of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Lidija Zivanovic said. – Still, female politicians are becoming more visible and more influential. I believe they will show much more through their work in parliaments and assemblies, than they have in the election campaign, which was predominantly men-oriented once again and which is not only the responsibility of female politicians and political parties, but also of media, which are still not sensitive enough regarding these issues.

The total of 36 per cent women and 64 per cent men were nominated candidates for the past elections. One has to admit that political parties have finally adopted the legal obligation to nominate at least one-third of women. Women were bearers of 81 lists, while men were the first on 638 lists. Women were, however, the bearers of lists of minor parties that did not have any chance for success from the beginning. In more prominent parties, the first places on lists were reserved for men.

Women’s positions
Azra Hadziahmetovic, a former minister in the Bosnia and Herzegovina Council of Ministers, professor at the Sarajevo Faculty of Economics and already an established politician with years of parliamentary experience was not “good” enough either for the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina to be entrusted with the first position on their list. Although she was the second on the list, with over 12,000 votes, she has won a seat in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

– Parties have simply taken for granted the belief that “women’s positions” on lists are the second or the third, then sixth, ninth or tenth position. It does not even occur to anyone to nominate a women for the leader of the list, no matter the qualities of female candidates, as it goes without saying that the bearers of lists are supposed to be men. Such is the atmosphere is the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina too, although this party pays considerable attention to positioning of women in politics, Azra Hadziahmetovic commented.

– These elections have confirmed once again that the parties’ tops, even in parties that are allegedly working on promotion of women, see women as decoration on one side, and on the other as “a burden” imposed by the Election Law. Women are not seen as serious politicians – because they do not occupy positions of bearers of lists, while the parties nominate only as many women as legally obliged to do, political analyst Tanja Topic stressed strongly.
As stated already, not a single woman was elected for any of the presidential positions (Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, presidents and vice presidents of Republika Srpska). In 13 assemblies and parliaments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, women have won 17.4 per cent or the total of 89 mandates, while men have won 432 mandates, or 82.6 per cent. In Republika Srspka, women have won most mandates on the lists of SNSD (14 in total), while in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, women have won most mandates on the lists of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (21 in total).

– The separation into leftist and rightist parties is outdated, a political sociologist, Dr Ivan Sijakovic said. – All parties are bending towards the centre, greater partisan ideologies are history, while the first rule of contemporary political marketing is: tell voters what they want to hear! The Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina and SNSD obviously know that very well.

More power – less women
Sijakovic believes that women did not do well at these Bosnian elections either, not only because of the election results, but more because of unequal distribution of real political power. The power remains in men’s hand, and that will, according to him, be more clearly demonstrated in the process of constitution of the executive government.

– To be honest, this is not only a problem of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Europe has noted this problem of uneven distribution of political power a long time ago, as even extremely good ideas had bad results if presented by women. As a result, the obligation to nominate 30 per cent of women became a tradition in European democracy. But, with open lists, it turned out that quotas are not sufficient, which is why considerable thought is given to further improvement of electoral systems, which would enable women to fight for a “reserved” quantity of power. Stereotypical and traditionally patriarchal attitude towards politics and women are specific for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Female politicians are therefore perceived with doubt, as politics, it is generally believed, is a dirty job that does not suit a decent woman. Such stereotypes are supported equally both by men and women, Sijakovic said.

Women won the fewest seats the state level. Only six female deputies were elected into the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which means that women have won one-seventh or 13 per cent of mandates. At lower levels of government, women had somewhat better results. The total of 22 women were elected into the Federation Parliament, which is almost 22 per cent of the total of 98 mandates. In the RS People’s Assembly, women will hold 20 per cent of seats, which is 17 seats in total. Up to 11 of the total of 17 “women’s” seats in the Srpska parliament were won by female candidates of the SNSD. Alongside with recognized politicians, such as Gordana Djuric and Nada Tesanovic, there are a number of new names, so it becomes obvious that their election is a consequence of a convincing victory of Milorad Dodik’s party. At the cantonal level, women have won 15 per cent of mandates, but it needs to be stressed that women were by far the most successful in the Sarajevo Canton: they got up to 23 per cent, or eight seats in Cantonal Assembly, half of which are seats of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is interesting that women had a very bad result in cantons with Croat majority, where they won only eight to ten per cent of mandates.

– The concentration of real authority and true political power lies in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is where women had the worst results. This only confirms the thesis that men do not hand over the most important positions to women easily, even when they have to, by law, nominate women for these positions, Tanja Topic, M.A., commented.