Representatives of opposition parties in Republika Srpska (RS) assessed that by transferring presidential powers to Davor Pranjić (HDZ BiH), the Vice President of RS from the Croat community, Milorad Dodik officially acknowledged the conviction of the Court of BiH, due to which the Central Election Commission of BiH (CIK) stripped him of his mandate as president of this entity in BiH.
"Today we finally saw that RS Vice President Davor Pranjić signed a decree on the entry into force of a law adopted by the National Assembly, which resolved all dilemmas and confirmed that part or all of the powers were transferred to him by former President Milorad Dodik," wrote Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) Vice President Igor Crnadak on Facebook.
He added that it is even more important that the President of the RS National Assembly Nenad Stevandić confirms to the entire public and publishes the document in which Milorad Dodik signs the appointment of Savo Minić as the prime minister-designate for the formation of the new entity government, in order to "remove all dilemmas regarding this important issue that is also before the Constitutional Court of BiH."
"However, the main question is - is the transfer of authority legal, taking into account that Dodik is permanently prevented from holding office, as he is under a sanction that prevents him from returning to office until the end of his term," Crnadak said.
He cited Article 80 of the RS Constitution, which unequivocally states that the possibility of transferring the powers of the President of Republika Srpska to one of the vice presidents exists only in the case of "temporary incapacity".
The President of the People's Front (NF), Jelena Trivić, assessed that the fact that Dodik transferred powers to Pranjić "should not surprise anyone", because Dodik accepted the verdict of the Court of BiH by redeeming his prison sentence and filing an appeal with the Constitutional Court of BiH.
She also assessed that the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) has decided to participate in the early presidential elections, scheduled for November 23rd, although they claimed that they would not.
"All Serbian parties should definitely participate in these elections so that we can obtain the institution of a president and so that the new President of the Republic can give a mandate for the composition of the Government, which will be elected according to the procedures stipulated in the RS Constitution," emphasized Jelena Trivić.
She further said that the opposition "will no longer call on Dodik to leave, because he has already done so."
"Milorad, it is cowardly that you did not announce this to the public and the people, nor did you stop and admit it as a human being, explaining the reasons against which you could not. It is cowardly that your people continue to talk about a referendum, although you are aware that a referendum cannot overturn any court ruling," Trivić pointed out.
She assessed that Dodik "may not be guilty of what he was tried for, but he is guilty of the madness, impoverishment and beheading of the people, as well as the destruction of Republika Srpska and the sacrifice of the national wealth of Republika Srpska and its people for the sake of acquiring personal wealth."
The president of the Justice and Order List, Nebojša Vukanović, stated that "it seems that only (HDZ BiH leader) Dragan Čović was informed by Milorad Dodik, because he 'suspected' that powers had been transferred to Pranjić."
Vukanović told N1 that with this move, Dodik "once again manipulated institutions and MPs, because he did not inform anyone about his move, but they learned the information from the media."
"Nobody knew, except for Dodik's most important ally and partner - Dragan Čović. So, an HDZ cadre is at the helm of Republika Srpska, and this confirms why Dodik has such support from HDZ, Čović, (Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers Borjana) Krišto, (Croatian Prime Minister Andrej) Plenković and (Croatian President Zoran) Milanović," Vukanović said.
He assessed that Dodik had shown that he was "leading a pro-Croatian policy."
He also stated that with this move, Dodik opened the question of the legitimacy of the newly elected RS Government.
"Dodik admitted that he is not the president of Republika Srpska. According to the RS Constitution, only the president can appoint a prime minister, the vice president cannot do so under the president's authority. This is a mockery of both justice and the judiciary," Vukanović concluded.
RS Vice President Davor Pranjić signed a decree promulgating the Law on Amendments to the Law on Police and Internal Affairs, which made it official that Milorad Dodik transferred powers to him, after the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK BiH) stripped him of his mandate as President of Republika Srpska based on a final verdict of the Court of BiH.
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The decree on the proclamation with the full text of the law was published in today's Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia.
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