BANJAC: CLEARLY SAY 'NO' TO IMPOSITION, 'YES' TO WILL OF PEOPLE

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 6 /SRNA/ – National Party of Srpska (NPS) leader Darko Banjac has said today in Banja Luka that the early presidential election in Republika Srpska will serve as a kind of referendum at which the citizens of Srpska will say NO to the imposition of decisions by Christian Schmidt, Sarajevo-based politicians, and certain embassies.

Banjac added that it is important to say NO to political processes and to the rewriting of the Dayton Agreement. "We must say YES to the freedom of will of the citizens of Srpska, to the unity of Srpska’s citizens, to the protection of Srpska’s national integrity, to the preservation of Republika Srpska within the Dayton framework, and to the defense of institutions of Srpska," Banjac told a press conference in Banja Luka following a meeting of leaders of the ruling coalition parties in Republika Srpska. Banjac reminded that these parties had done everything possible to achieve political unity and avoid elections, but that the opposition refused to support this effort and instead nominated its own candidate for the president of Srpska. He recalled that the ruling coalition could not afford to abandon political unity, having in mind that 75 percent of Srpska’s citizens support them. Banjac emphasized that the presidential candidate of the coalition Siniša Karan has the backing of all ruling parties, pointing out that Karan has spent the past 20 years engaged in constitutional and legal efforts to protect the competencies of Republika Srpska and its position within the Dayton Agreement. "He is therefore being nominated in these elections, which we have described as forced upon us through a clear political process," Banjac stressed.