STEVANDIĆ: KARAN’S VICTORY DEFEATED “OPERATION SCHMIDT”

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 24 /SRNA/ – Speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska Nenad Stevandić said that the victory of SNSD’s candidate Siniša Karan in the snap election for President of Republika Srpska means the failure of the "Operation Schmidt," and that goals of vital importance for Republika Srpska and its survival have been achieved.

Stevandić told reporters in Banja Luka that institutional stability has been secured, first and foremost in the National Assembly, and that Republika Srpska has now elected a new president. He assessed that Karan’s victory thwarted the “Operation Schmidt,” that is, a plan under which, following the election and inauguration of SDS candidate Branko Blanuša, a request would be filed to dissolve the National Assembly and, in parallel, to have the Government of Srpska declared unconstitutional. Such a scenario, Stevandić said, would have triggered a major crisis and prevented institutions in Srpska from functioning, and by New Year would have resulted in a change of the Council of Ministers. "I believe that, after the collapse of the `Operation Schmidt`, an attempt will be made earlier than expected to push for a Constitutional Court of BiH ruling declaring the election of the Government of Srpska unconstitutional, but that will only be an act of frustration," Stevandić said. He thanked the citizens of Srpska who, by voting for Karan, helped prevent that outcome. "We have shown that we are a democratic society in which everyone can freely choose their candidate without any incidents," Stevandić said. Opposition representatives, meanwhile, consider the results of the early presidential election unacceptable until voting is repeated in Laktaši, Doboj and Zvornik. Head of the SDS Caucus Ognjen Bodiroga believes it is questionable whether the Government of Srpska has legitimacy, and said that this issue will be discussed at a session of the Constitutional Court of BiH.