WDN Member Alma Čolo is running for re-election to the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each week leading up to the election, Alma will provide commentary and personal analysis as a woman candidate in BiH. 

Sarajevo, September 27, 2010

Only 7 days left until elections.

On Monday, September 20, I drove through the entire city and did not see any of my billboards or posters. It seems as if the male candidates have decided to discriminate against the female population much more than last time. I decided to take matters into my own hands. I went to the marketing agency which was in charge of making the posters for my political party and asked to have 5000 leaflets made with my picture on them so that I could hand them out to citizens at our various rallies. I asked them to get it done as soon as possible as I had one of my more important pre-election rallies coming up in the central district of the city the following day.

On Tuesday, the leaflets were finished and looked nice. On the front is my picture with the number of my position on the ballot and on the back is my biography and what I have done thus far throughout my previous mandate, as well as my message to voters that education, experience, courage and diligence can lead this country forward. I decided to hand out these leaflets at rallies that I attend daily, as well as to give them to my friends and family which can pass them further on. On Tuesday night at the big pre-election rally in the city center, approximately 1,500 citizens attended. On the walls of the sports arena in which the rally was held there once again were not a lot of female posters. Mostly men. As for speeches given, those were all men, too. I suppose that was the decision the leaders in my political party made.

On Wednesday, I attended a rally in one more city district which approximately 150 citizens attended. All the candidates that were at the rally had a chance to address the public. I spoke about my work in the Parliament and what I have planned to do if I get re-elected. I think it went well. When I got home at around 10 p.m. I was exhausted. I've come to the conclusion that pre-election campaigns can be overwhelming.

On Thursday, we had what we call a central rally, which took place in the district of the Old Town. It was a good atmosphere, a lot of people but once again, there were none of my posters to be found anywhere. At the rally I spoke to a woman who was our ambassador in Australia and another which is a professor at the University of Sarajevo. They are both candidates for the Federal Parliament. They spoke about the needs for affirmation of women in our society. I think that overall this rally went very well.

On Friday, we organized info desks on the city streets. We handed out our election platforms and spoke with citizens. Some looked interested and others just walked past us and did not even want to look at the material our activists were handing out. That day I had a public hearing at the Supreme Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a representative of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliament. I was at court until 5 p.m. therefore I was not able to attend the rally that evening in one of the districts outside of Sarajevo. I was extremely tired and decided to stay home that night.

On Saturday, we had a rally in district Ilidža. This is a big surburban district that has a huge number of voters. The auditorium was full, but once again only men spoke. Actually, the only people who spoke were those who carry the first position on the ballots. In the case of my political party, those are all men.

On Sunday, I organized a pre-election rally of all female candidates in the sports arena Zetra. The arena was full. We presented women candidates from all ballots. I spoke about the importance of electing of women in the branches of legislative and executive government, about the international obligations of BiH towards gender equality, about the need for greater involvement of women in post-conflict societies like Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mrs. Semiha Borovac, who was the first female mayor of Sarajevo held a speech as well. I think the rally was successfull overall and it definitely gave me the power to intensify my campaign in this last week before elections.
 

Sarajevo, September 20, 2010

With 13 days left until the elections, this last week was very tiring.

Election rallies were held every day. We visited smaller areas outside of Sarajevo. On Tuesday and Thursday, we held a rally in the central districts of various cities. I had the impression that more people attended our rallies than during the last election four years ago.

Generally, people are dissatisfied with the current government due to the high unemployment rate, the econimic crisis and the slow process of fulfilling conditions for European Union [EU] accession.

The most frequently asked questions we received from our citizens are the following: How are we going to come up with a solution for unemployment? Why are citizens from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania excluded from visa-free travel to the EU while neighbors, such as Serbia and Macedonia, were allowed to join? Why were we not accepted into NATO? Why were benefits taken away or reduced for citizens who are socially at risk and those who served our country? Why are no new factories being opened? Why are foreign countries not investing in our country?

At almost every rally, I have had the opportunity to speak in front of an audience. I talked about the significance of this election, the goals of my political party, and my career experiences. I recently had an opportunity to strengthen my public speaking skills during a seminar hosted by the International Republican Institute, which significantly improved how I approached communicating with fellow citizens and the media.

As far as the relationship between men and women in this election, I have noticed that certain male candidates try to repress women. Very few posters of women candidates were displayed during our campaign rallies. The few women candidates whose posters were featured were those favored by the male leadership. It is a rule that every political party has to put up posters of each candidate. Clearly, we did not do this. Even though I am the second candidate of my political party on the ballot for the national pariliament for the entire city of Sarajevo, I have yet to see one of my own posters!

At times, I just want to give up everything and stop going to the election rallies because I feel that I am being discriminated against. But I'm going to stay and put up a fight, because I know that there are people on the same ballot as me who would love for me to give up.

So, I'm staying and whatever happens, happens.

Sarajevo, September 13, 2010

The elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are less than 20 days away.

On Monday, September 6, I spent the entire day in a rush. The marketing agency that is running our campaign called to discuss some final details concerning my billboard. A professional photographer took photos of all of the candidates and today was the first time I saw my billboard photo. I didn't like my picture at all, they photo-shopped our faces too much for it to look natural. I called the manager of the campaign to try and change my photograph, he wasn't very keen on allowing me to do so, but he gave in in the end. I had to find a photographer who would take my picture and deliver it as soon as possible to the marketing agency. I managed to get it done in time.

On Tuesday, when I finally thought I would see my billboards, they called me from the agency to tell me that my photograph wasn't appropriate because it had a gray background compared to our other billboards that had white backgrounds. Apparently, the marketing agency didn't have time to change the background color of the photo. So, once again, I went back to the photographer and he gladly fixed it, but the picture wasn't as pretty as it was with the gray background. What can you do? My theory is – oh well, even if I look bad, hopefully people will still vote for me.

On Wednesday, we had a dinner at Hotel Bosnia in Sarajevo with the president of my political party and several high-ranking officials within the party. There were about 30 members attending and only two were women – both candidates for the Parliament, but from different electoral units.

On Thursday, we celebrated the Islamic holiday Eid with friends and family and there were no campaign activities.

On Friday, all of our candidates attended a big holiday reception in Zetra, the sports hall in Sarajevo that was built for the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. Zetra was completely destroyed during the war in BiH, but thankfully Zetra is now fully renovated and is where all of major sports and cultural events take place. During the gathering, all of the candidates from Canton Sarajevo were presented. Afterward, we unveiled the posters with our photographs, talked to citizens and presented our election platform.

On Saturday, as the president of the Cantonal Association for Women of my political party, I organized a meeting with all of the female candidates from my party. During this meeting, we discussed the placing of info desks for every one of the nine municipalities where citizens will be able to talk to the female candidates. On September 26, we will organize a final conference entitled “Women Candidates” to discuss the importance of voting for female candidates. Additionally, we will present our candidates and highlight the women of my party who serve in the legislative and executive branches of the government.

On Sunday, we had an election rally in Goražde, a small town that is part of my electoral unit. We rented a campaign bus that displayed all of our photographs and the party campaign slogan. Our campaign slogan is: “THE PEOPLE KNOW.” Our slogan refers to the idea that the people know that we were by their side during wartime in BiH; the people know that we are with them, helping them rebuild our destroyed country; the people know that we are willing to do anything and everything we can so that BiH can become a functional and prosperous country. 

Sarajevo, September 6, 2010

Local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are scheduled to be held on October 3, 2010. The citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be electing the country's leaders – the presidency which consists of 3 members (1 Croat, 1 Bosniac from the Federation of BiH and 1 Serb from the Republika Srpska).  A total number of voters that have the right to vote during the October 2010 elections is 3,126,599.

Additionally, in this election the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are electing representatives into the House of Representatives (42 members total), as well as representatives into the 10 cantonal parliaments of the Federation of BiH. The Parliament of the Republika Srpska will vote for a president and two vice presidents. 

As an acting delegate in the Parliament of BiH, I am once again a candidate on my political party's list.  During the last election four years ago, my political party won the most mandate positions in the Parliament of BiH and in the House of Representatives with nine out of 42 members total.  Since 1991, my political party formed a coalition with other parties in the BiH government and was in oppostition only during 2000-2002.

My election unit includes Canton Sarajevo, as well as a wider area outside of the capital city of BiH and Canton Goražde, which is approximately 100 miles from Sarajevo.  The total number of voters in my electoral unit is 411,091, with 22 Parliamentary political parties competing for their votes. In some electoral units, there are 34 political parties or independent candidates campaigning.

I find this disappointing.

As a representative of my political party, I am number two on the ballot. Voters have the right to vote for a particular party, as well as vote for an individual candidate on the ballot representing that party.  Therefore, every vote that a candidate receives is important, because those who have the most votes are elected into the Parliament.

The campaign for the elections officially began on September 3, 2010.

Final preparations are taking place within the election headquarters.  The entire campaign of my political party is being run by a marketing agency which specializes in this type of work. Photographs, commercials and billboards have all been made.

On September 3, we had a meeting that went into the wee hours of the night, where we discussed details concering our last few steps.  For example, the commercials that we recorded which will be shown on TV.  We have a schedule when we will attend debates that will also be aired on television.  During these debates we will have to answer many unpleasant questions:

• What have we been doing the past four years?
• Why is the country in such a bad economical situation?
• Why do we have over half a million unemployed citizens?
• Why have we not minimized the amount of corruption in our country?
• Why do young people leave the country in search of employment elsewhere?
• Why can we not travel to other countries of the European Union without a visa, even if all of our neighboring countries can?

I am aware that it will not be easy, so I will provide weekly updates of my campaign activities and my progress.  I plan to bring more attention to myself as a woman with a high ranking postion on the ballot and one who has to justify the trust which I have been given by my political party.

Alma Čolois a delegate in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  She is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade Policy, Customs, Traffic and Communications in the House of the People; the Joint Committee for Human Rights in the Parliamentary Assembly; the Joint Committee for European Integration; the Joint Committee for Administrative Issues and the National Section for the Fight Against Corruption.  She is also a substitute in the parliamentary delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.  She began her career working for the government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has also worked for the tax office of the municipality of Sarajevo as deputy director of legal affairs and for the municipality prosecutorial office in Sarajevo as deputy prosecutor and head prosecutor.  From 2003 to 2005 she worked for the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as advisor for legal affairs, and in 2006 assumed her current position as a delegate in the House.  Ms. Čolo holds a Masters degree in Criminal Law from the Law Faculty in Sarajevo.