Republika Srpska prime minister resigns

"As you can see, I am not in the hospital, but on the beach. I have never felt better. This is a day I have been waiting for a long time, ever since I was appointed prime minister, and today I consider it my contribution to a broader consensus," Viskovic said, addressing a press conference in Banja Luka on Monday.

Explaining the reasons behind his resignation and the government reshuffle, he said it was a constitutional obligation since "his" government had "bad luck at the very beginning".

"Two ministers resigned for moral reasons immediately after the election to the National Assembly. Later, we had another minister who was appointed to the Council of Ministers," said Viskovic.

Viskovic's resignation comes shortly after media reports indicating he might do so.

Reportedly, Viskovic was under a great pressure of a part of the SNSD party leadership and its leader Milorad Dodik, who planned to reshuffle the government a year prior to the election and after the State-level election watchdog stripped him of office based on a court ruling.

Opposition politician Nebojsa Vukanovic told N1 that Viskovic tried to resist the pressure but that his position has weakened due to court trials he was exposed to over the past months.

"Viskovic has been used up and has become an object of ridicule. He has lost his way in public, and most citizens are laughing at him," said Vukanovic.

According to him, Dodik wants to inject a new energy into the government with alleged PM candidate Savo Minic and other names before the Central Election Commission takes away his mandate.

Speaking about Viskovic's resignation, Dodik said that now former PM "undoubtedly marked this period and I do not want to make any assessments."

"We do not have any affair, but this is a human and political agreement. In the next elections, he will be one of the important personnel offers. We want the RS Government to gain new legitimacy. This Government has done everything to ensure that economic life in RS functions in almost impossible circumstances," Dodik said.

Together with Dodik and RS National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandic, Viskovic is under investigation by the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, which suspects them of attacking BiH's constitutional order. His government authored a series of unconstitutional laws through which RS sought to undermine the work of state judicial bodies and security agencies.

Arrest warrants and detention orders were issued against all three after they repeatedly ignored summonses for questioning in the course of the investigation.

Viskovic has been the prime minister of the RS since 2018, but he ended up under US sanctions for undermining the Dayton Peace Agreement.

In July 2023, the US Ministry of Finance declared Viskovic and several other officials from the RS are directly responsible for instigating the adoption of a law in the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (RSRS) declaring the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina inapplicable in the RS, thereby obstructing and endangering the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.