Representatives of opposition parties in Republika Srpska (RS) assessed that the final verdict against the president of that entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Milorad Dodik, did not threaten the existence of RS, emphasizing that no individual can and must be above it.
The acting president of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), Jovica Radulović, stated that no one in the party was happy about the Dodik verdict and that they had said from the very beginning that it was a political process.
"The prosecution had many opportunities to conduct investigations into many criminal acts in the institutions of the RS, but it did not, and that is why we do not have a rule of law today," said Radulović.
He recalled that the SDS called on Dodik to resign before the final verdict was pronounced and thus free the institutions from this hostage situation he had brought them into. "However, what he is constantly doing is hiding behind the RS institutions. The verdict does not endanger RS," Radulović stressed.
He further said that he expects the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) to reconsider its earlier decision not to participate in the early elections for the president of the RS, after Dodik was finally convicted and banned from holding the office of president.
"SDS has an official position of the Main Board that we will have candidates for both separate positions, the President of the RS and the Serb member of the Presidency of BiH, with our own candidates," said Radulović.
He added that he expects that a session of the SDS Main Board will be held soon at which, in consultation with opposition parties, this position will be confirmed.
PDP Vice President Igor Crnadak confirmed to the Sarajevo-based portal Raport that immediately yesterday, after the final verdict against Dodik, he sent a letter to the PDP Presidency in which he asked the party leadership to reconsider, or change, the earlier decision according to which the party would not participate in early elections if Dodik was banned from holding the office of President of the Republika Srpska.
"It is true that I requested that the Presidency's decision to boycott the elections be annulled. I sent a letter. The content is not yet ready for publication," Crndak told Raport.
The President of the People's Front (NF), Jelena Trivić, stated that "RS is above any politician" and that Dodik is not RS, calling for peace and rational decisions by all political actors in BiH.
"This ruling by the Court of BiH is harmful to the Serbian people and to the constitutional and legal position of the RS, but no less damaging has been the decades-long collapse of the RS institutions, especially the National Assembly, which Dodik subordinated to his own interests," Trivić assessed.
According to her, the Court of BiH, with its verdict against Dodik, did deprive the people of the right to decide on their own political destiny, adding that Dodik himself did this by "reversing the will of the citizens in multiple election cycles."
She also recalled Dodik's political past, stating that in 1999, when he was the Prime Minister of the RS, Dodik supported and implemented the decision of the then High Representative in BiH, Carlos Westendorp, to remove Nikola Poplašen from the position of President of the RS.
Stanivuković confirms that PDP will not participate in early elections
The president of the opposition Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) and the mayor of Banja Luka, Draško Stanivuković, reiterated today that his party, even before the final verdict against Dodik, had made the decision not to participate in the early elections.
"We are not waiting for anyone's political downfall to seize our political opportunity. If the verdict is condemnatory, as it is, by preparing for regular elections in advance, we are avoiding the crisis that we are unfortunately entering now," Stanivuković said.
He assessed that Dodik "should leave by the will of the people and in the elections, not in this way."
"The trial against the President of the RS is political and staged. I have been claiming from the beginning that there should have been no response to the Court and the Prosecutor's Office, because that gives legitimacy to the illegal process," Stanivuković stated.
He assessed that "a hand that lacks the support of the people and legitimacy is abolishing and nullifying the institution of the President of the RS. Those who rejoice in this verdict, from any national or political side, are rejoicing in a state without sovereignty, turned into a colony of whether Germany, Europe, America or anyone else, it is less important," he added.
According to the Election Law of BiH, with the adoption of a final judgment banning him from holding the presidential office, Dodik's mandate as President of the RS will be terminated by force of law.
The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC) is then required to call early elections for the president of the RS within 90 days. Dodik stated yesterday that he would not allow such elections to be held in the RS.
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