KOVAČEVIĆ: IF SNSD DECIDES TO PARTICIPATE IN ELECTIONS, OUR CANDIDATE WINS WITH NO PROBLEM

BANJA LUKA, SEPTEMBER 26 /SRNA/ - If SNSD decides to participate in the early elections, whoever the party nominates, will win without any problem, said the spokesman of this party Radovan Kovačević.

"Public opinion surveys, which we conduct regularly, show that our popularity is serious and that anyone we nominate can expect 60 percent of the vote," Kovačević said.

As for the candidates mentioned in public, Kovačević said that the organizational secretary of SNSD Igor Dodik is absolutely not interested in that kind of story.

"He is someone who is the organizational secretary of our party, he deals with the organization of the party, he deals with the work of the party on the ground and he does that job very well. As for Željka Cvijanović, she is a Serb member of the Presidency, a member of the Presidency from the Republika Srpska, and I strongly doubt that we will consider any option for her to stop being a member of the Presidency from the Republika Srpska, because she does that work in an exceptional way and the Republika Srpska benefits greatly from what Mrs. Cvjanović does as a Serb member of the Presidency.

Siniša Karan and many others are people who are serious members of SNSD. But, I repeat, whoever we choose in case we go to the elections, can win without any problems and any difficulties, whoever is on the other side," Kovačević said.

Referring to the speculations about the relationship between Milorad Dodik and Željka Cvijanović, Kovačević emphasized that Željka Cvijanović has been in the team of Milorad Dodik's most loyal collaborators for a long time.

"She is someone who was once the head of Milorad Dodik's cabinet, after that she held all the most important functions in the Republika Srpska, from being a minister and prime minister and president of the Republic and a member of the Presidency from the Republika Srpska.

For the past decade, Željka Cvijanović has been offered various options to betray Milorad Dodik, and it seems to me that she is getting closer and closer to Milorad Dodik. So, everyone who relies on it in any way should give it up," Kovačević said.

He emphasized that people should finally understand that SNSD is one team and that everyone who is in SNSD and who is in any way the leadership or who represents SNSD is also a good team.

"And I think that this is one of the key reasons why we have such results, winning ones, consistently from cycle to cycle, and that this is something that people in the Republika Srpska recognize. We are not just any group of riotous individuals who only look out for their own narrow interests, God forbid. We are a serious team with a clear task of protecting Republika Srpska," Kovačević pointed out.

He emphasized that SNSD is the team that made it possible for 20 years not to take away any jurisdiction from Republika Srpska, that the whole world now knows about a small Republika Srpska, that the perception of Republika Srpska is also changing, that Srpska has more and more friends.

"I am absolutely sure that regardless of the fact that we suffer the consequences of the attacks, pressures, attacks on the Republika Srpska, which was led in the first place by the former American administration led by the Democrats, that much better days and much brighter days are coming for Republika Srpska and that it will finally be recognized that Republika Srpska should not be exclusively a topic that is discussed in a negative way, but that Republika Srpska is a normal, democratic, civilized, modern, advanced republic located in the heart of Europe and which can and how it can contribute, and that Republika Srpska should be talked to, and not talked about and always in a negative way," Kovačević told the Podcast with Brezo.

When asked on what basis he claims that something will change when US President Donald Trump confirmed the sanctions against Serb officials, Kovačević said that this is not true, that the sanctions were not extended.

"Sanctions have not been extended to anyone from Republika Srpska. You have probably heard that the process of lifting sanctions for the first four people from Republika Srpska has begun and that this is an ongoing process, that people have been enabled to have accounts, to have transactions," said Kovačević and stated that it is a process that will surely end positively for Republika Srpska.

Kovačević, who is also a Serb delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, said that there is no position of BiH if there is no agreement of the representatives of three equal constituent peoples and two equal entities.

"When you help someone in Sarajevo, you are not helping BiH. You are helping one party in its fight against other parties in BiH. So, when Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks come to an agreement, that is BiH and that should be helped," Kovačević explained.

He said that US chargé d'affaires John Ginkel came to BiH to respect all parties, to respect all partners.

"After a long time, we heard that a representative of the USA said that he wants to cooperate with all parties in BiH. The previous administrations said that there is only one party in BiH. Now we have received the recognition that one should talk with the parties in BiH, including Republika Srpska and the representatives of the Serb people. Mr. Ginkel recently held a meeting with the Serb member of the Presidency, Mrs. Cvijanović, and later he had a certain kind of dinner on the occasion of his arrival in BiH, where there were also representatives of the Republika Srpska.

This clearly indicates that the new American administration wants, as stated earlier in the statements of the Secretary of State, that all parties are respected in BiH and that BiH should move forward on the basis of respect for the Dayton Agreement and on the basis of compromise and consensus of the three constituent peoples and two entities. We ask for nothing more than that. That is quite enough," Kovačević pointed out.