DODIK: CEC'S DECISION CANNOT HAVE LEGAL EFFECT ON PRESIDENT OF SRPSKA

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 6 /SRNA/ - Termination of the mandate, by the decision of the Central Election Commission /CEC/, is unconstitutional and cannot have legal effect on the President of Republika Srpska, who was elected in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, said the President of the Republic Milorad Dodik.

Dodik stated that the CEC may have a role to confirm the mandate, but it does not give it, and since it did not give it a mandate, it cannot take it away. "Their decision is unacceptable, it is a violation of the Constitution of Republika Srpska and the Constitution of BiH, done on the basis of the arbitrary decision of a foreigner accepted by the Muslims to deal with the Serbs and make them disappear from these areas," Dodik told the press in Banja Luka. He pointed out that this decision destroys the Constitution of Republika Srpska, and when there is no Constitution, then there is no Republika Srpska. He pointed out that the President of Republika Srpska according to the Constitution is responsible only to the citizens of Srpska and cited Article 88 of the Constitution, which states that the president is responsible only to the citizens and they can impeach him by the same procedure by which they elected him. He further cited Article 87, Paragraph 1, which states that the mandate of the President of Republika Srpska ends before the end of the term for which he was elected only by resignation or impeachment. "There is no the third way. They invented it. They think that their way is the only way, but the Constitution states this," said Dodik. If he accepts their decision, Dodik explained that he is violating the Constitution, that he is humiliating the Serb people, and is belittling the history of the Serb people and their suffering. "That's why I decided to go to the National Assembly with my partners and ask for a referendum on whether the president of Republika Srpska should accept decisions that destroy the constitutional order of Srpska and the meaning of its existence," explained Dodik.