MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. The snap election has been imposed on the Republic of Srpska by the West with an aim of dismantling the Dayton Agreement, President of the Republic of Srpska (one of the two constituent entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina), told TASS.
"I don’t think that an [early] election will be organized because it was not originally planned. This is a part of the international factor of the neoliberal structure that, along with Bosnian Muslims, is seeking to impose elections on the Republic of Srpska, which doesn’t want to hold them," he said. "There is not a single factor in the Republic of Srpska that would indicate any need in an election, neither by political parties nor other social or other groups. This is the best way for them to dismantle the Dayton Agreement. Sometimes you are forced to do what you don’t want to."
"We must not let political structures ruled or financed by foreigners declare elections legitimate," he noted. "I still don’t think that there are any grounds for the election, but we decided to say that we will take part in it, if it is held. I still don’t think that there are any grounds for it but we have applied for participation only to be safe."
According to Dodik, the Republic of Srpska will take measures to foil any violations during the election. "We cannot count on fair and honest elections where Western structures interfere, and you can see this," he noted. "The actions they are taking are reduced to removing political opponents by means of courts, like this is done in France and Romania, or here, in our case. But the influence of the government, the influence of parliament of the Republic of Srpska, which is the core authority in the Republic of Srpska, is overwhelming, so, they will not be a factor that would be able to change the entire structure."
Political structure of Serbia
Under the constitution envisaged by the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Dayton Agreement) of 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina is comprised of two entities, namely the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (around 51% of the territory) and the Republic of Srpska (around 49%), as well as the Brcko District. The three key ethno-religious groups, i.e. Bosniaks (Slavs professing Islam), Serbs (Orthodox Christians), and Croats (Catholics), are proportionally represented in the state governance system.
In fact, the country is governed via the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose office was set up under the Dayton Agreement and who is appointed by the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) upon the UN Security Council’s consent. However, in 2021, the Board members appointed Hans Christian Schmidt of Germany to the post without agreeing his candidature with the UN Security Council. For these reasons, his legitimacy is challenged by the Republic of Srpska, Russia, and China.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Central Election Commission announced early presidential election in the Republic of Srpska on November 23.