Results Not Published in Official Gazette: Dodik's Referendum or Dodik's Poll

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik cannot be linked in any way to the procedure for publishing the Report on the results of the republican referendum held on September 25, 2016, because that procedure is constitutionally and legally within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, which is carrying out that procedure and which is still ongoing, following the initiation of the procedure for the protection of vital national interest in the Council of Peoples of Republika Srpska by Bosniak delegates, it was announced tonight from Dodik's cabinet, writes Patria.

After the completion of the procedure and the adoption of the final decision by the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska will publish the Report on the results of the republican referendum. Therefore, we inform you that the information circulating, which links the President of RS with this procedure carried out by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, is inaccurate and malicious.

We believe that the reporting by some media from FBiH today is tendentious and aimed exclusively at damaging the reputation of President Milorad Dodik and the office he holds, it was stated from Dodik's cabinet.

Republika Srpska cannot publish the Report on the results of the referendum on the Day of RS, said the Chairman of the Referendum Commission, Siniša Karan, because the Bosniak Caucus initiated the issue of protecting vital national interest.

Karan reacted to the reporting by the portal Vijesti.ba that Dodik had annulled the results of the RS referendum because they had not yet been published in the Official Gazette of RS.

Although Dodik's cabinet reacted sharply, and Karan "clarified" that it was merely a procedural matter, it is uncertain whether the referendum results will ever be published in the Official Gazette of RS.

It is very likely that in the end, as Dodik used to say, the referendum on September 25th will turn out to be "a poll among citizens".