Republika Srpska (RS) entity President Milorad Dodik has decided to participate in the Bosnia and Herzegovina local elections, set for 6 October, thereby accepting the changes to the electoral law imposed by High Representative Christian Schmidt, even though his powers in Republika Srpska are persistently contested.

“This is a decision we have to make,” Dodik told reporters in Banja Luka, confirming that he had changed his mind and agreed to respect the current law at the state level and the decision of the Central Election Commission (SIP) to call elections.

After Schmidt imposed mostly technical changes to the election law at the end of March, Dodik ordered his aides in the BiH authorities to block all processes, and he initiated the adoption of a special election law for the entity, according to which elections in that entity would be conducted independently. Although it was formally adopted, that law did not enter into force because its constitutionality is being reviewed, so it cannot be implemented.

In the meantime, opposition parties have announced that they will participate in the elections for municipal and city authorities called by the SIP, and Dodik is faced with a situation in which, if he persists in the boycott, he is in danger of losing control over all local communities.

On Tuesday, he asserted that when deciding for his Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) to accept Schmidt's rules of the game, the views of his coalition partners prevailed, while he was opposed to.

He underscored that that did not mean formal acceptance of Schmidt's decisions and that the RS will certainly have its own electoral law and some future elections will be conducted accordingly.

This, he believes, will take at least another month and a half, and if the current government does not participate in the elections, it will leave the RS to the opposition, which, as he said, will “disintegrate” the entity in that case.

He accused the opposition of betraying the interests of the RS, and asserted that the ruling coalition will win the local elections in October, calling on the voters to help it in this and thus prove his thesis that the opposition parties are in fact “treasonous.”

“I call on the public to turn its back on the opposition,” said Dodik.

He again condemned the announcement of the adoption of a resolution by which the UN General Assembly is to pay respect to the victims of the genocide committed against the Bosniaks of Srebrenica in 1995 on Thursday.

“It's just a Muslim whim,” said Dodik, forecasting that the adoption of the resolution will only lead to the accelerated disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, as he said, the RS will strengthen its autonomy in such circumstances.

He repeated that there was no genocide in Srebrenica, downplaying the number of over eight thousand Bosniak victims.

“What happened in Srebrenica was not genocide, but a serious crime,” he concluded with a message rejecting court verdicts claiming otherwise.