SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Nov 28 (Hina) - Dragan Kalinic, a close aide to war-time Bosnian Serb leader and ICTY indictee Radovan Karadzic was on Thursday re-elected chairman of the Bosnian Serb parliament.
SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Nov 28 (Hina) - Dragan Kalinic, a close aide to
war-time Bosnian Serb leader and ICTY indictee Radovan Karadzic was
on Thursday re-elected chairman of the Bosnian Serb parliament.
#L#
Kalinic, who is the leader of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), was
elected chairman of the Assembly of Republika Srpska (constituted
after October 5 election) thanks to the votes of the Party of
Democratic Progress (PDP), led by the incumbent entity Premier,
Mladen Ivanic, and the votes of six deputies of the (Muslim) Party
of Democratic Action (SDA).
This move practically marked the set-up of a post-election
coalition between the SDS and the PDP, which will be actively
supported by the SDA, although SDA leaders have so far resolutely
dismissed the possibility of co-operation with the party
established by war crimes suspect Karadzic.
Returning the SDA the favour, the SDS supported SDA member Sefket
Hafizovic as the party's candidate for the post of the parliament
vice-chairman representing the Muslim people.
However, the SDS and the SDA did not manage to constitute the
assembly in its entirety, given that they could not find any Croat
candidate for the post of the other parliament vice-chairman. The
New Croatian Initiative (NHI), the only Croat party that has won
seats in the entity assembly, has refused cooperation with
nationalist parties.
During the vote on Kalinic's candidature, deputies of moderate
parties, led by representatives of the Party of Independent Social
Democrats (SNSD) of Milorad Dodik, walked out of the session to
demonstrate that the SDS and the SDA had renewed their alliance.
The coalition was formed partially due to the fact that
negotiations on the establishment of new entity authorities
between Milorad Dodik of the SNSD and Mladen Ivanic of the PDP
yielded no results.
Neither Ivanic nor Dodik wanted to cede the premier's post to one
another, and Ivanic eventually opted for the establishment of the
new government with the support of the SDS.
This has also affected moderate parties' prospects of constituting
the new government on the Bosnian national level (i.e. to set up new
Council of Ministers).
(hina) ms