CONDUCT UPCOMING ELECTIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ELECTORAL LAW

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 16 /SRNA/ – Legal expert Slavko Mitrović believes that the upcoming general elections in October are of vital importance for the survival of Republika Srpska and must be held in accordance with the Republika Srpska Electoral Law.

Mitrović stated that the victory of SNSD candidate Siniša Karan in the repeat presidential elections in Republika Srpska, as well as the policies of the constitutionally elected Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, have paved the path for triumph in the October general elections. He emphasized that this result was unexpected only for the pro-Bosnian opposition – SDS, PDP, Nebojša Vukanović and Jelena Trivić, as well as their Bosniak partners in Sarajevo of all kinds and affiliations. "For the authorities of Republika Srpska and the coalition of parties gathered around SNSD, the path to victory in this year's October elections has once again been paved. These elections are of vital importance for the survival of the Republic and must be held in accordance with the Electoral Law of Republika Srpska. That law exists and is harmonized with the Constitution of BiH, which grants the Central Election Commission of BiH jurisdiction only over elections for BiH Presidency members and deputies to the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly," he explained. Mitrović stated that the Central Election Commission of BiH cannot have any additional jurisdiction, and that all other electoral competencies, principles, and bodies for calling and conducting elections belong to Republika Srpska. "According to the Constitution of BiH, no institution at the BiH level has absolutely anything to do with that. This means that Republika Srpska is competent, through its National Assembly and its own Republic Election Commission, to call and conduct elections for the president of Republika Srpska, deputies to the National Assembly, the election of five Serb deputies to the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, as well as councilors and mayors of local communities," Mitrović wrote in a column for Glas Srpske. He stresses that all of this is a constitutional obligation and task of the Republika Srpska authorities that must be carried out without delay so that the October elections are in accordance with the Constitution of BiH. Mitrović noted that this is an obligation Republika Srpska accepted by signing Annex Four of the Dayton Accords. "If Republika Srpska leaves unconstitutional provisions of the BiH Electoral Law in force, then it is consenting to the continuation of the terror carried out by the CEC BiH under the dictate of Christian Schmidt and Sena Uzunović. If that remains the case, Republika Srpska will abolish itself," Mitrović emphasized. He added that the Dayton Peace Agreement belongs to the international legal order as one of the most significant documents of international law after World War II. Therefore, Mitrović points out, "official Sarajevo, acting in coordination with the western part of the international community, all Bosniak parties, Islamic structures, media and non-governmental organisations, which form a united front against Republika Srpska – is a bandits' den destroying the only possible the Dayton-based structure of BiH". "It does so through unlawful and unconstitutional instruments and through the ruthless actions of Western embassies in Sarajevo, the Steering Board of the non-existent PIC, the Constitutional Court of BiH which does not protect the Constitution, the extra-constitutional `Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH,` the incompetent and unlawful CEC of BiH, numerous invented BiH agencies, as well as all `BiH ministries` which, as bodies, cannot even exist under the Constitution of BiH," Mitrović stated. He adds that on this front, the economic and all other development of Republika Srpska is being obstructed, and that such matters are clear even to the fractured opposition – SDS, PDP, Vukanović and Trivić. "But they reject every call from the institutions of Republika Srpska – the president of the Republic, the National Assembly and the Government – for joint action on national Serb issues and interests. Meanwhile, they run to Sarajevo to make and implement plans there against the people who for twenty years have given their trust in elections to the coalition headed by SNSD and Milorad Dodik," Mitrović cited.