Bosnian Serbs Set Date for Controversial Referendum

Despite condemnation from local and regional officials, the leadership of Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, has moved ahead with holding a hotly disputed referendum on the authority of state and international institutions.

The recent decision of the Republika Srpska Constitutional Court, which approved the holding of the referendum following an appeal by Bosniak [Bosnian Muslim] delegates in the RS National Assembly, has now been legally verified after being published in the RS Official Gazette on Thursday.

A day earlier, the RS Assembly established a commission to organize the referendum whose date is now set for November 15.

The initiative was launched by the president of the entity, Milorad Dodik, in July.

Voters will be asked whether they support the "anti-constitutional and unauthorised laws imposed by the High Representative of the international community, especially the laws imposed relating to the [state] court and the prosecutor's office of Bosnia and Herzegovina".

While Dodik defends the referendum as a legitimate response to outside interfence in the RS's internal affairs, many local and international officials and experts said it was a part of Dodik's early election campaign, ahead of the 2016 local elections, aimed at drawing attention from the grim economic and social situation.

Other Bosnian officials and international diplomats have called the referendum unconstitutional and illegal since it challenges the authority of institutions that are outside the RS's jurisdiction.

They say it would be a violation of the 1995 Dayton peace accord and could destabilize Bosnia and potentially the region.

"Republika Srpska is deliberately heading towards a confrontation with [Western] countries which...