Bosnia Serb Opposition Unites Against Dodik

Three opposition parties in Republika Srpska, one of two entities in Bosnia, on March 19 said they were uniting into one bloc - and would talk to other interested parties prior to the elections.

The People's Democratic Movement NDP, the Party of Democratic Progress PDP and the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, hope their new formed “Union for Changes” can beat the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, led by Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, in the elections.

Dragan Cavic of the NDP and Mladen Ivanic of the PDP said on Wednesday in Banja Luka that the coalition would field its own candidates. Ivanic said that the parties would field a joint list for the state parliament but not for the entity.

Mladen Bosic, president of the SDS, said that the opposition parties would together offer broad alternatives to the policies offered by Dodik's SNSD.

Dodik, meanwhile, said the opposition parties only damaged Republika Srpska and that they did not have any capacity to bring about change. He added that they were all made up of recycled and failed politicians.

“In the toughest times for Republika Srpska, Ivanic and Cavic gave away a huge number of [the Serb entity's] jurisdictions," Dodik said.

“They should first change themselves,” he added, referring to opposition calls for change. “Nowadays they have no programme, their politics is just a policy of hatred and divisions - a policy that does not have any concept.”

Ivanic was at one time a Prime Minister of Republika Srpska while Cavic was the president of the entity from 2002 to 2006.