During a visit to Mostar in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Jadranka Kosor called on the Croats in that country to vote for the HDZ in Croatia's forthcoming parliamentary election, in the constituency designed for Croatian nationals without permanent residence in Croatia, stressing that once it joined the EU, Croatia would be able to more strongly support efforts by the Croat community in Bosnia and Herzegovina not to be treated as a minority.
Kosor made the statement after meeting the president of the HDZ BiH party, Dragan Covic, and HDZ 1990 leader Bozo Ljubic in Mostar, where earlier in the day she attended an election rally of her party.
Kosor also visited the Marian shrine in Medjugorje and laid wreaths at a monument in Mostar commemorating Croat soldiers killed in the country's 1992-1995 war.
Addressing the HDZ election rally, Kosor said that the December 4 parliamentary election would be of historic importance for Croatia and the Croatian people, which she said had prompted the HDZ to gather people who "think Croatian".
She warned Croat voters in Bosnia and Herzegovina that Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Zoran Milanovic "clearly supported (Bosnian SDP party leader Zlatko) Lagumdzija," which, she added, was "a message to all of you."
HDZ BiH leader Covic called on Bosnian citizens who have the right to vote in Croatian parliamentary elections to support the HDZ's slate in Constituency No. 11, adding that the HDZ was capable of securing a status for the Croat people in Bosnia that would be equal to that of the other two constituent peoples.
HDZ 1990 leader Ljubic called on voters to "love and represent Herceg-Bosna."
Ljubic described as entirely legitimate the request that Croats have their own federal unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Elections for the Croatian parliament in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries where Croatian nationals without permanent residence in Croatia live, will be held on December 3 and 4, at four locations at which there will be around 30 polling stations. Apart from the HDZ, slates for Constituency No. 11, in which voters elect three deputies to the parliament, have been submitted by 14 other political parties.
