PAVIĆ: ELECTION RESULT CONFIRMED STRENGTH AND POLICIES OF DODIK AND SNSD

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 5 /SRNA/ - The election result in Republika Srpska and BiH confirmed the strength of Milorad Dodik and SNSD, who received a clear mandate for the next four years, while also showing that voters in Srpska supported policies aimed at protecting national interests and strengthening Republika Srpska's international position, political analyst Aleksandar Pavić said.

"Milorad Dodik and SNSD received a clear mandate for the next four years. I deliberately say Milorad Dodik because he remains the leading political figure in Republika Srpska," Pavić told SRNA.

He said Dodik had managed not only to maintain but also to strengthen his party and the ruling coalition despite brutal pressure from abroad and attempts to remove him from political life.

Pavić said that the Serb people in Republika Srpska had clearly expressed their views both on "fake High Representative" Christian Schmidt and on all those who had worked against Republika Srpska, primarily Brussels, as well as Berlin and London, but also political Sarajevo.

It has become clear, Pavić stressed, that concern for national interests is the most important issue, and that Republika Srpska's successes in foreign policy had contributed to the ruling coalition, led by SNSD, achieving a convincing victory.

"They strengthened ties with Moscow and radically improved Republika Srpska's position in Washington, and voters knew how to reward that. This also demonstrates the maturity of the electorate in Republika Srpska," Pavić stressed.

He pointed out that these were the effects of an extraordinarily successful foreign policy pursued by SNSD, Milorad Dodik and Željka Cvijanović, as well as changes in the White House, without which this would not have been possible.

Therefore, he said, it was entirely logical that Dodik, in his address last night when he declared election victory, thanked both Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

"This is a picture of the new relations in the world, and the leadership of Republika Srpska has been able to recognize these changes and make maximum use of them in Srpska's interests," Pavić stressed.

Pavić assessed that the opposition in Republika Srpska had nothing to offer the people other than the slogan, "We do not like Dodik."

"That was what their policy boiled down to. They had no clear positions on anything, especially not on foreign policy issues, which are currently the most important when it comes to Republika Srpska, and that is why they were punished," he said.

Pavić said it was also excellent news that the Croats had finally obtained their legitimate representative in the BiH Presidency, which would mean that, if Darjana Filipović acted in accordance with Croatian interests, political Sarajevo would no longer be able to impose its policy in the BiH Presidency.

"There will be no more outvoting to the detriment of Republika Srpska. The attempts by political Sarajevo to carry out majorization in BiH through the BiH Presidency have failed," Pavić stressed.

He noted that the outgoing Croat member of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić himself said last night, while acknowledging the catastrophic defeat suffered by his DF party, that voters from all three constituent peoples had become politically homogenized.

"And this is very bad news for all those who were part of that impossible project of a `civic Bosnia,` that is, a Bosnia without entities, in which Muslims would dominate. That project has suffered its final collapse," Pavić stressed.