Dodik Announces New Republika Srpska Constitution for Jan. 9
The SNSD leader tells RTRS that Banjaluka would be the entity's main city and Pale its capital, while votes from the October 4 elections are still being counted in Bosnia.
SNSD leader Milorad Dodik said on Wednesday evening, October 14, that the new Republika Srpska Constitution could be proclaimed on January 9. In the same interview with Radio-Television of Republika Srpska (RTRS), he also spoke about the elections in Serbia scheduled for October 25 and about joint infrastructure plans of Banjaluka and Belgrade. For Serbia this matters twice over: the entity with which it has its closest political and economic ties is changing the foundations of its system, and its most influential politician openly links the future of that cooperation to the outcome of the vote in Serbia.
What exactly did Dodik announce?
Dodik said the plan is to proclaim the new constitution on that date, but he left room for a delay:
“We plan to proclaim the new Constitution of Republika Srpska on January 9. If we do not make it by then, we will see that it happens on some later date,” Dodik said.
The new constitution, he said, should be modern, should respect the constituent status of the peoples and should prevent abuses in the functioning of Republika Srpska. According to him, the new text will state that Banjaluka is the main city of the entity and Pale its capital.
The date carries some baggage: the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina previously ruled that marking January 9 as Republika Srpska Day was unconstitutional.
What changes for the Council of Peoples?
The most attention goes to the announcement that the way the Council of Peoples of Republika Srpska works, and its powers, will be redefined. It is the body that can stop a law passed by the National Assembly and send it to the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska if a majority in the clubs of the peoples judges that it threatens national interests. The sources differ on the wording: Nezavisne Novine and Tanjug write about a redefinition, while the Croatian agency Hina says Dodik plans to limit or abolish the Council’s powers.
Dodik himself presents this as protection, not as a blow against any people:
“Nobody will stifle Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, but it will make it possible for a democratic qualified majority to be seen through one system, for everyone essentially to be heard, for their position to be known and for what is rational to be seen,” Dodik told RTRS.
The sources also differ on one word of that quote: Nezavisne Novine and Tanjug carry “Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks,” while Hina has “Serbs, Croats or Bosniaks.” He also claims the changes are not aimed against Bosniaks but against abuses of institutional mechanisms, singling out abuses coming from Sarajevo.
What is the political moment for this announcement?
The announcement arrives while the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina is still establishing the results of the general elections held on October 4. According to Hina, the commission has a month to finish, and voting will be repeated at no fewer than one polling station in Brcko because of irregularities. For the Serb seat in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeljka Cvijanovic won about 306,000 votes and runner-up Marinko Bozovic about 145,000.
At the start of the week Dodik and HDZ BiH president Dragan Covic met in Banjaluka, as we have already reported, and asserted that their parties would hold so-called controlling stakes, at least three of the five representatives in the clubs of the constituent peoples in the House of Peoples of the state parliament.
What did he say about Serbia?
In the same interview Dodik said he expects the list led by Aleksandar Vucic to win the parliamentary elections in Serbia on October 25, because that would, as he put it, allow cooperation between Belgrade and Banjaluka to continue. He added that the two sides already have concrete plans:
“We already have some joint plans in infrastructure.”
Dodik also announced that a Republika Srpska delegation will visit China before the end of the year to discuss cooperation. Less than three months remain until the earliest possible date, January 9, 2027, and if the text is not ready by then, Dodik says a later date will be chosen.
