Dodik Says SDS and PSS Reject National Unity Government
The SNSD leader says the opposition parties turned down talks on a joint government, while a dispute erupted inside the SDS the same day over four delegates expelled from Bijeljina.
SNSD leader Milorad Dodik said on November 11 that the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and the Movement Safe Srpska (PSS) have refused talks on forming a national unity government in Republika Srpska. The invitation that the ruling coalition sent to the two opposition parties covered shared participation in government, both at the level of Republika Srpska and at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The refusal is presented in the sources solely through Dodik’s words: the SDS and the PSS did not respond to RTRS inquiries that day.
Politics in Republika Srpska is currently focused on the makeup of the new government. Savo Minic, as we reported earlier, has taken up his mandate, and the entity’s new government is expected by December 15, so the question of who will sit in it remains open.
What did Dodik say about the opposition’s reply?
According to Dodik, the SDS and the PSS rejected talks on a national unity government and on a united defense of the positions of Republika Srpska and the Serb people. Instead, “as every time before,” they offered to discuss only their own positions. Dodik said:
“We are sorry that this time too they did not understand the political moment and did not accept our invitation to discuss how, in the period ahead, we can protect the positions of Republika Srpska in complete unity and without divisions, and strengthen and improve its status.”
He also addressed the dispute over where the meeting would be held. Dodik said the SNSD considers the “remarks about the location of the meeting” unserious, “because it is entirely usual and logical for talks between political parties to be held precisely on the premises of political parties.” He says that when the SDS and the PSS indicated they did not want to come to SNSD premises, the SNSD proposed that everyone meet together at SDS premises:
“We approached this without any vanity, paying no attention at all to the fact that, together with our coalition, we are the absolute and convincing winners of the latest general elections, so in response to their remark that they do not want to come to SNSD premises, even though they earlier went to SDA premises without any objections, we offered that we all come together to SDS premises.”
He concluded: “It is evident that the SDS and the PSS did not understand why they were so convincingly defeated in the elections only a month ago, but have continued to pursue the same losing policy, caring solely about their own interests and positions, and not about the interest and position of Republika Srpska and its people.”
What had the SDS asked for earlier?
According to RTRS, in its most recent statement on the subject the SDS said it was ready to talk about protecting the interests of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but on conditions, among them that the meeting take place in the institutions of Republika Srpska, with the President of the Republic and the Serb member of the BiH Presidency present. That is a paraphrased summary, not a verbatim statement from the party.
The SDS, as relayed by RTRS, stated the following verbatim:
“We expect the bloc led by the SNSD to confirm, before the meeting, that it accepts our proposal that the National Assembly of Republika Srpska propose a total of five candidate lists for the election of Serb delegates to the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly and eight for the Council of Peoples of Republika Srpska. Each bloc would propose a number of lists proportionate to the percentage of votes it won in the latest general elections in BiH.”
Sociologist and Republika Srpska senator Dragomir Vukovic told RTRS that national unity is needed, particularly at the level of the joint institutions of BiH: “Down there we have opposing projects. One tends toward the unitarization of BiH, the other toward respect for the Dayton Agreement. My suggestion to all political actors is to forget these classic political conflicts and divisions.”
The same day, a new conflict inside the SDS
An internal dispute broke out in the SDS the same day. Party president Branko Blanusa signed a decision expelling four delegates from Bijeljina from the Main Board:
- Aleksandra Pandurevic
- Slavko Jovic
- Tatjana Pantic
- Vladimir Ljubojevic
Pandurevic, a Bijeljina delegate on the SDS Main Board, reacted on social media: “Just when I thought we had already seen and experienced everything from Branko Blanusa, his violence against the SDS and the party Statute reached its peak today.” She called the decision “completely contrary to the statute” and “dictatorial,” and wrote about the president’s powers:
“Not a single article of the statute gives the president the authority to remove members of the main board, nor has any president ever removed anyone because they do not share his views.”
In her words, Blanusa “wants to secure a majority in the Main Board for himself at any cost” and, with Dodik’s help, a delegate’s seat in the House of Peoples. Pandurevic also claims that Blanusa is fulfilling the part of a deal with Dodik that concerns handing Bijeljina over to the SNSD. That is her claim, and Blanusa’s response has not been published in the sources. She also announced the launch of an initiative for his removal and expulsion from the SDS.
