Republika Srpska Assembly, Dodik challenge Bosnia with referendum

Dodik has been sentenced to one year in prison, but has repaid the penalty for about 18 thousand euros. In addition, he has been sentenced to six years ' ban to exercise public office ʹ the decision that made the Central Election Commission (KQZ) Bosnia and Herzegovina's t dealt with the mandate of RS president.

After the MPs entered the RS Assembly Hall, the services informed him that an anonymous call for a deployed bomb had been accepted. They were all evacuated from the building and the police are expected to carry out the search.

The session will continue at 11:30, Secretary Bojan Bosanic told reporters in the Assembly.

The session will also consider changes in the Referendum Law, which are under accelerated procedure. Under the proposal, the Assembly would be able to form special commissions for the referendum itself, while the law would enter into force immediately after adopting anything unusual for legal procedures.

If the changes are adopted, MPs are expected to vote for holding a referendum through which citizens would express their position on the decisions of the Court and CEC, with which Dodik was granted a mandate.

The ruling coalition has proposed that the referendum be held on 18 October or 25 October, but until the start of the session, it had not been clarified how the referendum question would be formulated.

The Bosnian Constitution does not provide for a lower level of power, such as ethnicity, to announce referenda for decisions of state institutions, which questions the legality of the whole process.

The agenda also includes the next <x0 steps of RS institutions”, as well as the formal adoption of Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic's resignation. In this way, the entity would be left without president and without prime minister.

Dodik has been convicted of disregarding the decisions of the international High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, tasked with implementing the Dayton Peace Agreement.

As president of RS, he had signed laws that envisioned failure to implement the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and the Office of the High Representative on entity territory. These laws were publicly canceled by High Representative Christian Schmidt.

Dodik's defence has filed appeals to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia, while the CEC is obliged to, by law, announce early elections for RS president within 90 days. / REL/