Presidency member: Little over 900,000 Serbs left in RS

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Little over 900,000 Serbs were left in the Republika Srpska entity, but my political opponent dares not speak of this, Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency member and candidate for the second term, Mladen Ivanic, told the “Novi Dnevnik” weekly, speaking about his opponent for Presidency member, Milorad Dodik.

“We are worlds apart. I proved victory is possible without spreading panic, lies or insulting those thinking differently. On the other hand, we’ve seen Dodik spread panic, insults and lies,” Ivanic said. “I support peace and stability, but he’s dragged us into conflicts with everyone. I don’t wish to insult anyone’s child, let alone send them to war.”

In the past four years, he said he had shown how this semi-autonomous, Serb-dominated entity should be protected in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions and that he saved Serbia from a revision of the verdict before the International Court of Justice when Bosniak representatives attempted to initiate a revision procedure of the Court’s verdict saying that Serbia was not responsible for the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia, but that it bears the responsibility of not attempting to stop it from taking place.

“I preserved the Day of the RS in spite the pressures from the Court and the Prosecution and their attempts to prohibit its celebration,” Ivanic concluded.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled that the Day of RS (January 9) was unconstitutional because it marks the day when the war-time RS was formed, in whose name countless crimes were committed against the non-Serb population. The Court’s reasoning for this verdict was that this date, January 9, was discriminating against the non-Serb population in the RS and Bosnia.

“My political opponent talks a lot, but he never mentioned the sad fact that there are little over 900,000 Serbs left in the RS,” Ivanic added.

Bosnia's general election will be held on October 7.