The re-elected president of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska entity, Milorad Dodik, announced he would name a new prime minister this week after his bloc secured a parliamentary majority.
The Serb-led entity’s president held meetings on Wednesday with political parties that have MPs in the Republika Srpska assembly to agree on the composition of the new government, however the Alliance for Change refused to attend stating that the Government is being formed on illegal grounds.
Dodik said he would announce the name of the new prime minister of the entity at the end of this week, after he was inaugurated as president on Monday and the assembly lawmakers confirmed their positions.
Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, is to be the main ruling party for its third term since it took power from the Serb Democratic Party, SDS, in 2006.
SNSD won the most votes in the October elections, getting 29 seats in the entity assembly, while the SDS came second, taking 24 seats.
After the SNSD managed to establish a coalition with other smaller parties that gave it a majority large enough to form a government, SDS accused it of buying political support because two SDS lawmakers switched to Dodik’s side.
This change of sides at the last minute angered the SDS opposition bloc, which claimed to be very close to forming a majority itself.
The SDS also complained about an audio recording on which outgoing Bosnian Serb premier Zeljka Cvijanovic could allegedly be heard discussing “buying” the support of two MPs.
“The corrupt actions of buying MPs and composing a parliamentary majority in this way are not only anti-democratic but also criminal acts that should be questioned and sanctioned by the relevant state institutions,” the SDS said in a press release.
