OPPOSITION STILL HAS TIME TO CHOOSE A FREE SRPSKA

PALE, SEPTEMBER 12 /SRNA/ - If the opposition in Republika Srpska is genuinely concerned about the Republic, it still has time to consider whether to choose BiH as a protectorate or a free Republika Srpska, former Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker Dragan Kalinić told SRNA.

Kalinić said that the scheduled early election for the President of Republika Srpska represents a form of political bullying, both from external actors and from within, by those who wish to see the end of Republika Srpska, adding that the response to this is the referendum on October 25, called in connection with the ruling against Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik. "Those in this country who think for themselves, and the majority of our people are politically mature and self-aware, do not agree with or accept the ruling against the institution of the Republika Srpska President, nor the ban on political activity imposed on Dodik, who in the last elections gained the trust of Republika Srpska citizens legally and legitimately. At the time, no one challenged this, including the Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH," Kalinić emphasized. He noted that in the coming months, much will be clarified from the current political crisis in BiH, and it will become clear which direction BiH will take and which path Republika Srpska will follow. Reminding that, according to the Republika Srpska Constitution, regular elections are scheduled for the end of next year, Kalinić said that by November 23, when the CEC has called extraordinary elections, much could still happen amid the political chaos in BiH. "You asked for early elections - you will get the real answer in a referendum, as the most democratic expression of the people's will," Kalinić stated. He emphasized that the comparison with the plebiscite of 1991/92 is unavoidable. "At that time, Bosnia went its own way without the Serbs, while the plebiscite directed the Serb people in BiH toward an independent Republika Srpska," Kalinić recalled. He stressed that Republika Srpska and its institutions have not succumbed to pressure or political terror and that, despite everything, they continue to exist and carry on their work in the interest of the citizens. "They endure regardless of how much the so-called domestic well-wishers, together with Bosnian unitarists and quasi-European bureaucrats, try to accuse the Republika Srpska authorities of anti-Dayton actions, undermining the Constitution, and disregarding the decisions of the colonial high representative and rulings of unconstitutional judicial institutions," Kalinić said. He reminded that even at the beginning of the 1990s, despite all the risks, the Serb people chose their own path, taking their fate into their own hands and protecting themselves from repeating a tragic past. "It wasn't easy back then, and even now the circumstances are no less difficult, yet we endured and obtained our state," Kalinić said. If, on top of all this, we add that the transition with the new Republika Srpska Government was successfully completed and that the National Assembly has preserved its strength and resilience as the highest legislative institution, then there is no reason to "throw in the towel". "Therefore, we continue onward, determined and wisely enough," Kalinić stated.