SARAJEVO: Bosnia’s Serb statelet, whose President Milorad Dodik is defying a ban on him holding office, will stage a referendum on October 25 on the federal court verdict against him.
Lawmakers in the Republika Srpska’s (RS) regional parliament late Friday voted for the referendum as the political crisis around Dodik worsened, with his prime minister resigning on Monday, triggering a government reshuffle.
Dodik, 66, was convicted in February by a Bosnian federal court of undermining the fragile functioning of the Balkan country by flouting decisions by the international envoy enforcing a peace deal that ended Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.
Dodik avoided a one-year prison sentence by paying a 19,000-euro ($22,000) fine, but an appeals court upheld a ruling that he be removed from the RS presidency and banned from political office for six years.
The regional leader, who has been in his post for seven years, has vowed to block elections in the Republika Srpska and to hold a series of referendums.
