SNSD - UNAVOIDABLE POLITICAL FACTOR IN BiH

BANJA LUKA, JANUARY 29 /SRNA/ – SNSD Organizational Secretary Igor Dodik has stated that SNSD will achieve a convincing victory on February 8 in the repeated presidential elections at 136 polling stations in Republika Srpska, as well as in the general elections in October, and will certainly remain a key political factor in BiH for a long time to come.

"SNSD will improve its election results at many polling stations where voting is being repeated in Republika Srpska and will secure victory, while the opposition will once again resort to its narrative, accusing us of being 'criminalized' and of 'not having achieved a regular victory,'" Dodik said. He thanked all SNSD members and presidents of local party branches who work continuously on the ground and invest great effort to ensure that SNSD’s election results are even better. Commenting on the opposition’s request to the Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH for additional observers or else a boycott of the repeated elections, Dodik said that SDS and the CEC of BiH are "playing cat and mouse," telling each other, "come on, now you protest a bit and come out with such a request, and we will make a decision to accommodate you." "The CEC of BiH has accommodated SDS, and there is nothing controversial about that. This is not the first decision through which they have met their demands," Dodik pointed out. He called on SDS to send as many observers and members of polling boards as they wish to monitor and inspect everything at polling stations. "I believe the position of the citizens of Republika Srpska is already clear and that they have already decided whom they will vote for. Even if a hundred observers come, nothing will change," Dodik stressed. He reminded that opposition observers, after the voting on November 23, signed statements confirming that everything was conducted regularly and that, during the recount of votes in Sarajevo, in 95 percent of cases there were no irregularities, with results being almost identical to those recorded in the official minutes. Speaking to RTRS, Dodik said that SNSD is not a campaign-only party that waits for elections to begin working, but that its members are constantly active on the ground. He emphasized that SNSD is also preparing for the general elections in October, in which it will achieve a convincing victory and remain an indispensable political factor in BiH for at least the next two election cycles. "For SNSD, it is not a problem that there is no pre-election campaign for the repeated presidential elections at certain polling stations, because we work continuously, constantly with the people, listening to them and solving their problems," Dodik said. He noted that the CEC of BiH violated rules and procedures, exceeded deadlines, and attempted to undermine and criminalize the electoral process, the electoral will of the citizens of Republika Srpska, and SNSD’s victory. "All of this was done with a single goal, orchestrated from Sarajevo, to install candidates favorable to the policies they want - namely, to weaken the institutions of Republika Srpska and Republika Srpska itself, and to strengthen the state-level institutions of BiH," Dodik pointed out. Commenting on the decision of the incomplete Constitutional Court of BiH regarding the "illegitimacy" of the previous composition of the Government of Republika Srpska, as well as the initiation of an appeal against the new composition, Dodik assessed that this too represents a kind of attempt to influence the electoral will of the citizens of Republika Srpska. "I believe that we have lost the rule of law and that all decisions of the unconstitutional Constitutional Court of BiH, the CEC of BiH, the Office of the Attorney General of BiH, the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH have been made to the detriment of Republika Srpska and in favor of strengthening the joint institutions of BiH," Dodik stressed. He said he would like the opposition in Republika Srpska to be stronger and more patriotically committed to politically important issues, adding that Sarajevo cannot find a serious interlocutor in them. "SNSD has differing views compared to the opposition in Republika Srpska, but when it comes to the survival of the institutions of Republika Srpska, we must have a unified stance. The representatives of Republika Srpska’s institutions were elected by the people, they are legitimate, and they must be respected," Dodik concluded.