MAZALICA: REPUBLIKA SRPSKA STABILITY IS SNSD’S GOAL

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 4 /SRNA/ – The Head of the SNSD Caucus in the Republika Srpska National Assembly, Srđan Mazalica, emphasized that the party decided to participate in the snap presidential elections in Republika Srpska over the stability of the Republic and the overall political situation, including preventing potential crises.

"This is the best decision for Republika Srpska, because the opposition did not accept the earlier conclusions of the National Assembly to boycott the elections. That’s why we will have our own candidate - Siniša Karan," Mazalica stated in SRNA’s podcast. He stressed that political processes must be conducted through institutions, not on social media. "We expected all political parties to accept our call to form a government of national unity and boycott the elections. Unfortunately, the opposition welcomed the snap elections and saw them as a major opportunity to remove the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik. After that, we decided to participate," Mazalica added. According to him, the second-instance judgment against the president of Republika Srpska was changed the night before it was announced. "The judgment did not take into account all the arguments of the defence team, and the trial was full of violations of the Criminal Procedure Code. Therefore, such a judgment is unacceptable," Mazalica noted. He stated that the amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH, enacted by the illegitimate Christian Schmidt, led to the decision by the Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH to suspend the elected President of Republika Srpska, which violates the Constitution. Mazalica argued that by violating the Republika Srpska Constitution, the constitutional and legal order of BiH was also breached, putting Srpska in a discriminatory position. Regarding SNSD’s presidential candidate, Mazalica said that Karan has always been on the front line of defending Republika Srpska. "He has held the most important positions, and a vote for Karan is a slap in the face to Schmidt, the BiH Court, and the CEC. The SNSD’s policies of defending Republika Srpska remain and no one can remove them. When we as a people show that we can articulate our interests and policies, then all can be dismissed, but they cannot break Republika Srpska or the people’s will that defines political direction," Mazalica stated. In his view, the upcoming election will test the will of the people. Mazalica said the opposition rejoiced at the consequences of Schmidt’s decisions. "Karan is part of the policy led by Dodik, the leading ideologist and thinker behind everything we’ve done for the past 20 years. That’s why people need to be given a chance to express their views. I expect the election campaign to be fair. Dodik has said we should promote our candidate, not run a campaign against the SDS candidate Branko Blanuša, who has personal qualities, but this is about politics," Mazalica said. He added that Karan is a wise intellectual, a man of broad understanding who is highly analytical and understands political processes. "We need someone who will protect the Republika Srpska Constitution and who is ready to deal with the greatest constitutional crisis in BiH. Karan’s opinions have greatly influenced everything we’ve done over the years," said Mazalica.