KOVAČEVIĆ: AUTHORITIES TO FULLY INVESTIGATE AND DETERMINE RESPONSIBILITY

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 19 /SRNA/ – SNSD immediately assumed political responsibility in the case involving Vlado Đajić, and now investigative authorities must determine what actually happened, said SNSD spokesperson Radovan Kovačević, stressing that it must not be overlooked that the entire incident occurred just three days before elections in which, according to all public opinion polls, the party expects a major victory.

“As SNSD Vice President Željka Cvijanović said, the first thing we concluded as a party is that we are neither police officers, nor prosecutors, nor judges. We are not the ones who can pass the final judgment on what happened or who bears responsibility,” Kovačević told reporters in Banja Luka following the release of a compromising video involving Đajić, the dismissed president of the SNSD Banja Luka City Board. He emphasized that the party acted immediately regarding political responsibility, within seconds, and that it is now up to investigative bodies to provide all the answers. “We want to believe that Vlado Đajić is innocent, but we want to know everything. Who orchestrated this entire story, who took part in it, and who ensured that it was released now, three days before the elections? And who organized the immediate protests?” Kovačević stated. He stressed that SNSD is demanding that the competent authorities thoroughly investigate the entire case, identify those responsible, and ensure they are held accountable. “There is no dilemma about that! But we must not forget that this surfaced only three days before elections in which, according to all public opinion research, we expect a major victory. What matters is that victory was also expected in Banja Luka after a certain period, and it is clear that someone feared this and resorted to such methods,” Kovačević said after the session of the SNSD Banja Luka City Board. He noted that SNSD is familiar with such methods of political action but has never used them and never will. Kovačević reminded that in 2012 SNSD faced a situation where, on election day, numerous portals published that the party’s mayoral candidate, who later won the election, had died. “This was posted on social media and widely shared by our political opponents, as well as by a large number of opposition media outlets which still try to present themselves as professional and objective. On the day of the 2018 election, while Željka Cvijanović was sitting in the SNSD Election Headquarters, all opposition media—including the biggest outlets in certain cities of Republika Srpska—published that she had already left Republika Srpska and was allegedly fleeing!? In the end, she had no choice but to hold a press conference,” he said. He underlined that SNSD remains fully focused on the early presidential election in Republika Srpska and on the upcoming victory. “Siniša Karan is the best candidate Republika Srpska has at this moment. He enjoys the full confidence of Milorad Dodik as the elected president of Republika Srpska, to whom the people of Srpska gave a four-year mandate, while the Schmidt–Sarajevo–opposition coalition from Republika Srpska has been doing everything to overturn that popular will. This is one of the methods aimed at continuing that effort, but it will be in vain, Srpska will win!” Kovačević declared.