ŠOLAJA: IT'S TIME TO TALK ABOUT FUTURE FUNCTIONING OF BiH

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 10 /SRNA/ - It is time to talk about the future functioning of BiH, given the violations of the Dayton Agreement and the desire of Bosniaks to manage all processes, assessed Bojan Šolaja from the Center for International and Security Studies.

Šolaja told SRNA that these intentions were implemented through decisions imposed by Christian Schmidt, the Court of BiH, and the Constitutional Court of BiH, as well as by other institutions, ultimately leading to early elections for the President of Republika Srpska. "The Central Election Commission /CEC/ has assumed powers it does not have. This concerns the conduct of local elections in Republika Srpska, elections for the National Assembly, and single-executive offices. They began regulating the electoral process through their decisions, and we ended up in an absurd situation where we had early elections as a result of illegal actions - from the imposition of a decision to the verdict against the President of the Republic," Šolaja stated. He pointed out that the CEC of BiH decided to repeat the early presidential elections in Republika Srpska, including at polling stations where no complaints about irregularities had been reported. "We can say that politics was used in an attempt to achieve an electoral outcome that would suit someone, so that they could continue treating Republika Srpska the way they have over the past three years," Šolaja said. He emphasized that the intention was to provoke a political crisis in Republika Srpska and to bring about a blockade. "That did not happen. Republika Srpska has stable institutions. Today, Republika Srpska has a president, a government, and a National Assembly with a firm majority that is fully capable of making all decisions," Šolaja stated. He predicts that in the coming period, the position of Republika Srpska on the international stage will further strengthen. Šolaja reminded that Republika Srpska incorporated elements of its statehood into BiH and that this is why it insists on a high degree of autonomy guaranteed to it by the Dayton Agreement. "Neither less nor more, and not at the expense of anyone else. It is to be expected that this issue will be reopened and discussed again. BiH should be a subject of agreement, not repression and the implementation of someone else’s plans, especially those coming from abroad and carried out according to instructions from Sarajevo. BiH can survive only on Dayton principles and agreement," Šolaja emphasized.