OHR: There is no legal basis for holding the referendum in RS

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina at its last session held on September 17, 2016, rejected the request of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska to review its decision from November 2015, thereby confirming that January 9, RS Day, is considered unconstitutional. Five days before the referendum (September 25), the Office of the High Representative in BiH (OHR) clarified in a statement to N1 that they would not resort to the Bonn powers, Patria reports.

Although politicians from FBiH called for and expected the High Representative Valentin Inzko to use his Bonn powers in this case, as the Supervisor for Brčko District, Bruce G. Berton, had done, this will not happen.

- At this moment, there is no need to use the executive powers of the High Representative in the case of the referendum in Republika Srpska, given that the Constitutional Court of BiH has issued a temporary suspension of the decision on calling the referendum, and therefore there is no legal basis for holding that referendum. Following the decision on the temporary suspension, the Referendum Commission in Republika Srpska has no mandate to organize a referendum that has been suspended. The High Representative calls on all competent authorities to ensure compliance with this decision, and reminds all authorities that violating the decisions of the Constitutional Court is a criminal offense - the Office of the High Representative in BiH told N1.

The referendum will ask citizens to declare whether January 9 should be marked and celebrated as the Day of Republika Srpska.

The Constitutional Court had previously accepted the request of the Chairman of the Presidency of BiH, Bakir Izetbegović, to issue a temporary measure suspending the decision on calling the referendum in Republika Srpska.

The Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) also stated that they will not tolerate violations of the Dayton Agreement or secession attempts. With the dissenting opinion of Russia, the PIC stated that the Constitution of BiH stipulates that the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH are final and binding, and that entities are obliged to respect the decisions of BiH institutions.