Lawmakers in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity will on Wednesday discuss whether to dismiss the Bosniak vice-speaker of the RS parliament because he comes from a party which adopted a resolution that is “aimed against the interests” of the RS.
The proposal for an urgent RS National Assembly session came from the ruling party in the entity, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), and its coalition partners.
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The initiative came after the main Bosniak party in the country, the Party for Democratic Action (SDA), adopted a Declaration containing its long-term goals which, among other things, are the establishment of a ‘Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina’ and the affirmation of a ‘Bosnian language’ as the ‘common identity of all of Bosnia’s citizens’.
Bosnia is according its Constitution, which is part of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, composed of two semi-autonomous regions – the Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), mostly shared between Bosniaks and Croats. The entities are linked into a state by common institutions.
The state-level government is set up according to a power-sharing system between three majority ethnic groups, or ‘constituent peoples’ – Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs.
“The explanation of the request for scheduling the session with the proposal for the agenda states that the Party for Democratic Action has at its last congress adopted a political declaration which is directly aimed against the interests of Republika Srpska and that it deeply encroaches upon the current state setup of Bosnia and Herzegovina which guarantees the status of Republika Srpska and Serbs as a constituent people,” an RS National Assembly press release said.
It said that, as a top SDA member, “Senad Bratic participated in the adoption of this declaration,” that he is implementing a policy which is against Republika Srpska and that he is acting contrary to the RS Constitution and laws while serving as Deputy Speaker of the RS National Assembly.
The SDA Declaration represents a prime example for “breaching the Dayton Peace Agreement” and Bosnia’s constitutional setup, which is detrimental to security in the country, the proposal said.
RS lawmaker from the opposition Serb Democratic Party (SDS), Zoran Vidic, did not reveal how his party would vote at the session, but commented on the situation.
“The declarations which the SDA and the SNSD often adopt seem like a battle between (SDA leader) Bakir Izetbegovic and (SNSD leader) Milorad Dodik, like two gladiators fighting with plush swords (…) They are trying to strengthen their political positions in the parties and in their national group,” Vidic told reporters in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of the RS.
Such issues are always raised when those in power have no solutions for solving economic problems in the country, he said.
Jelena Trivic, a lawmaker from the Bosnian Serb opposition Party for Democratic Progress (PDP), said her party will support the proposal to dismiss Bratic.
