Dragan Čavić close to returning to SDS

Former President of Republika Srpska and the Serbian Democratic Party Dragan Čavić has an open offer from SDS to return to his former party, the Patria agency has learned from sources close to the leadership of Čavić's NDP.

After losing to SNSD candidate Milan Jelić in the 2006 presidential elections of RS, he was blamed for the electoral defeat, which led him to resign as party president, and he was subsequently expelled from the party.

In early 2009, he formed the Democratic Party, which later grew into the National Democratic Movement (NDP). Following major changes within SDS, discussions began about his return, as well as the return of other former SDS members, to this party. The topic became even more relevant with the appointment of Vukota Govedarica as the party leader, who publicly opened the doors to former party members, primarily Čavić, who still has close associates within the party.

Dragan Čavić remains silent about the SDS offer and does not wish to speak publicly about returning to his parent party, but Patria's source from the NDP leadership emphasizes that Čavić is interested in returning but is still looking for the best way to communicate this decision to the people within NDP.

According to our information, Čavić is even considering the unification of NDP with SDS, which would be the best decision for the other NDP members who do not hide the fact that NDP without Čavić would become a completely marginal party with no chances on the political scene of BiH.

He, our source claims, does not want to make the decision about unification with SDS alone; rather, the party bodies should make this decision, which is expected to be decided by the end of September, or by mid-October at the latest.

SDS also has no objections to the return of Čavić and some other individuals to their ranks. SDS has publicly stated that their doors are open to some former members, while they are permanently closed to others. The doors are closed to Nenad Stevandić, Zlatko Maksimović, Darko Banjac, and former party founders like Momčilo Krajišnik and Božidar Vučurević.

According to our interlocutor, Dragan Čavić's strongest assets are his great popularity among voters, no problems with representatives of the international community, and especially the fact that no scandals related to economic crime are associated with his name.

Precisely because of their criminal past and connection to the most serious war crimes, the doors of SDS are closed to Krajišnik, Vučurević, and Stevandić, as the current leadership of the party is aware that their biggest political opponent, Milorad Dodik, has been blacklisted by the international community and placed on the US blacklist, and it would not be wise to bring back people with many criminal ties into the party.

Especially considering that the General Elections in BiH are just over a year away, when the Alliance for Change, which includes people from SDS, Čavić's NDP, and PDP, has a great opportunity to remove Milorad Dodik from power in Republika Srpska.

In order to overthrow Dodik's SNSD from power, SDS has set a plan to bring back respected individuals into its ranks, primarily Dragan Čavić.

Our interlocutor concluded by stating that it is almost certain that Čavić will return to the ranks of SDS by the end of the year.