SUPPORT FOR REFERENDUM ON PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 7 /SRNA/ – The Organisation of Republika Srpska Army Senior Officers has expressed full support for the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik and its institutions, calling on the citizens to decide on the presidential office via referendum, in accordance with the Republika Srpska Constitution, and the patriots to unite and preserve the Republika Srpska institutions.

The Organisation of Republika Srpska Army Senior Officers finds the BiH CEC's decision unacceptable, just as the BiH Court's judgments against the institutions of Republika Srpska are unacceptable, this time targeting the president of Republika Srpska, as the Organisation stated. "CEC may `CECing` as much as it wants, but it has neither the legal nor the factual power to amend the Republika Srpska Constitution, which is more than clear," stated the Organisation. The Constitution, as they pointed out, clearly regulates that the president is elected by citizens through direct and secret voting for a term of four years, and that the office can end before the expiration of the term in case of resignation or impeachment. In this case, neither of those prescribed possibilities applies. The Organisation reminded that the Constitution stipulates that the president of Republika Srpska is accountable to the citizens, who are entitled to remove him using the same process by which he was elected. From the clear imperative norms of the Constitution, it is evident that neither the CEC nor anyone else has any authority in granting or stripping the Srpska president of office. It was emphasized that the CEC is only authorized to issue a certificate regarding the election or loss of the office, but it does not have the authority to grant or revoke an office. Therefore, the office of the president of Republika Srpska is granted solely by the citizens, the Serb people, and other peoples in Srpska through elections, so that same office can only be lost through elections, not by an administrative action of the CEC," concluded the Organisation of Senior Officers.