Last night, members of the National Assembly of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of Republika Srpska (NSRS) adopted a draft of the new RS Constitution, according to which this entity will be declared a state, have the right to self-determination, and the Council of Peoples of RS and the Vice Presidents of RS will be abolished.
According to the adopted draft, citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is also abolished, and only entity citizenship is mentioned, and the possibility of entering into a military alliance with other states, as well as the right to a confederation with another state, is also envisaged.
The re-formation of the RS Army is envisaged, as well as the establishment of the RS High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, which would appoint judges and prosecutors in this BiH entity.
50 MPs from the ruling coalition voted for the adoption of the Draft of the new RS Constitution, out of a total of 58 MPs present in the parliament hall during the vote.
Most opposition MPs were not in the assembly hall during the vote, and all MPs from the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) were previously removed from the session.
A supermajority was required to adopt the Draft of the new RS Constitution, but a two-thirds majority is required to finally adopt the new constitution, which the ruling coalition in RS does not have, as even the President of RS Milorad Dodik himself admitted.
Last night, the ruling majority in the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska adopted the Law on the Protection of the Constitutional Order of the Republic of Srpska, which was proposed by the President of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, through an urgent procedure.
This law provides for the establishment of the Special Prosecutor's Office of the RS, which will have the authority to arrest anyone whom the authorities designate as a threat to the constitutional order of the RS.
It is envisaged that the special prosecutor will be appointed by the National Assembly of the RS.
The opposition has made a number of criticisms regarding this law, pointing out that Dodik is institutionalizing the persecution of political opponents in the RS.
This law shall enter into force the day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE) reported that with the new Constitution, among other things, those in power in RS plan to define that entity as a state of the Serbian people, to give it the right to self-determination, to establish its own army, and to abolish the Council of Peoples and vice presidents from the other two constituent peoples.
The media outlet states that these items are contrary to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and therefore the Dayton Peace Agreement.
The draft, which was adopted with 50 votes "for" to eight "against", now goes to a 30-day public debate, after which the Parliamentary Committee for Constitutional Affairs should draft a Proposal that will then be debated again in Parliament.
RFE/RL writes that this is another secessionist move by the RS authorities, after laws banning the functioning of judicial and investigative bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the territory of the entity came into force last week. Although the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina suspended the application of these laws, RS insists that the laws will be implemented.
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