A rally called "Fatherland Calling" is being held in Banja Luka on Tuesday, organized by the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the ruling coalition in Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity.

The rally was announced a few days ago by the SNSD leader Milorad Dodik, who said that certain positions will be adopted at this meeting, which will be guidelines for politics in the coming years, adding that work will be done “on strengthening the subjectivity of the RS and returning the competence for elections to the entity level.”

On Saturday, October 23, all general election results were determined except for the RS President, whose repeated control counting is in progress. Ever since the election night on October 2, the RS opposition claims that the elections were rigged and stolen and that the elections for the position of RS President should be repeated.

This idea was expressly opposed by the SNSD and its coalition partners, who demand that the results for the RS President be determined as soon as possible “because Milorad Dodik is the winner.”

Dodik ran against the opposition’s Jelena Trivic who was in the lead at one point, according to their election observers, but in days to come Milorad Dodik caught up to Trivic only to surpass her as days went on.

“We came to declare the President of the RS, as he [Milorad Dodik] won, to make it official. Control counting in the Central Election Commission is a joke. It’s clear as day that Dodik won convincingly. And those who are doing it [control counting of the ballots], are probably some other force. It’s not honourable towards the people of the RS or the veterans,” said the former member of the RS Army. 

One other rally participant had a message for Mirko Sarovic, leader of the opposition Serb Democratic Party (SDS):  

“He lost by 100,000 votes and he’s asking for a control count?! Dodik has 30,000 more votes [than the opposition candidate Jelena Trivic]. We came from all over the RS, including my Kozarska Dubica, to support the man the people elected.” 

An hour before the start of the rally, supporters of the SNSD and the ruling coalition slowly began gathering in Mladen Stojanovic Park, From where, at around 6 pm, they will head to Krajina Square, where speeches will follow from 7 pm.