SNSD leader Milorad Dodik, who declared victory in the race for Serb member of the BiH Presidency, says he will try to strengthen the position of Republika Srpska and the whole Serb people, and fight for constitutionality, abolition of the High Representative and the BiH Constitutional Court free from foreign judges.
Dodik told the Serbian public broadcaster RTS that if BiH wants to be a sovereign country and internationally recognised, it has to operate without the high representative, and pointed out that he will demand that the abolition of the institution of the high representative be an official stance of the BiH Presidency.
Foreigners must leave the BiH Constitutional Court, Dodik is adamant, saying this will be one of his first requests.
“If there is no dialogue, there is no reason for me to accept anything they think should be done. If they want to have dialogue, dialogue they shall have. If they want to create a little stronger BiH, then we must throw the high representative out,” said Dodik.
He said he would try to use his diplomatic connections to ensure support for that idea and added that Russia and the majority of other countries accepted that, that Serbia was in agreement, as was Croatia.
“The United States has yet to agree, but we will still have the old administration, with remnants of the past. I will try to write a letter to President Donald Trump and ask for his support to abolish the position of the high representative,” said Dodik.
Dodik said he wanted to thank Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic with whom he discussed the election results and who had already congratulated him.
“I thank you for all the support and attention Serbia gave Republika Srpska. I know that people in Serbia were very much interested in the election results in Srpska and BiH,” said Dodik.
Dodik, who is the current president of Republika Srpska, said that 80 per cent of competences were taken away from Republika Srpska but that it was not definite.
“We have the Constitution, which is a formal act. We have another practice which was imposed on us by high representatives and some other factors. That doesn’t mean that was constitutional. I will fight for constitutionality,” said Dodik.
Discussing the victory Zeljko Komsic, the Democratic Front candidate for Croat member of the BiH Presidency, Dodik said the only legitimate representative of Croats in BiH was Dragan Covic.
“This is a calculation and speculation, if things are like that, I can’t confirm it. In my opinion, it is a mistake of the Bosniak people and Bosniak political elite. They must not have done that, bearing in mind the position of Croats and that in that respect, the constitutionality of the Croat people is jeopardised and brought at stake,” said Dodik.
He said it remained to be seen what would come next and stressed that Komsic could have received the votes only from Bosniaks, which sent a message that Bosniaks would like, now with the Croats, and later with the Serbs to create suitable Serbs and Croats for long-term interests of centralisation.
Answering a question of how he will take part in the BiH Presidency activities and whether, like he had stated, he would operate via a video link or from Istocno Sarajevo, Dodik said he did not rule out the possibility of staying in the BiH Presidency building once in a while.
Source: srna
