Agreed positions with SNSD: Marin Vukoja and Valerija Galić voted against the decision declaring the RS Government unconstitutional!

Marin Vukoja and Valerija Galić voted against the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH to declare the former convocation of the Government of Republika Srpska, led by Savo Minić, unconstitutional, Istraga.ba has learned from three different sources within the Constitutional Court of BiH.

These two judges of the Constitutional Court of BiH, close to HDZ, insisted for two days that the requests for assessing the constitutionality of the RS Government be rejected, arguing that it is pointless to discuss something that does not exist. At one point, according to Istraga's sources, at least one of the three foreign judges was on the verge of supporting the positions of Marin Vukoja and Valerija Galić. In that case, the required majority (five votes needed) would not have been reached to adopt the decision that the RS Government appointed by Milorad Dodik was unconstitutional. In the end, however, the foreign judges decided to vote for the proposed decision according to which the RS Government of Savo Minić was declared unconstitutional.

“The Constitutional Court in this case ruled on the request of eleven members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other eleven members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina for an assessment of constitutionality and determination of a dispute between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entity Republika Srpska regarding the adoption of the Decision on the election of the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska ("Official Gazette of Republika Srpska" no. 78/25), the Decision on the election of members of the Government of Republika Srpska ("Official Gazette of Republika Srpska" no. 78/25), the Decision on the early entry into force of the Decision on the election of the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska ("Official Gazette of Republika Srpska" no. 78/25), and the Decision on the early entry into force of the Decision on the election of members of the Government of Republika Srpska ("Official Gazette of Republika Srpska" no. 78/25). The Constitutional Court concluded that in this specific case, there is a constitutional dispute regarding the question of whether, based on the decisions of the Court of BiH and the Central Election Commission of BiH, Milorad Dodik could have had the mandate to propose the prime minister and members of the Government of Republika Srpska in his capacity as President of Republika Srpska, which undoubtedly raises the issue of the rule of law as an issue from Article I/2 of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, considering the decisions of the Court of BiH and the Central Election Commission of BiH, the Constitutional Court emphasized that the specific constitutional dispute also concerns the issue of respecting the decisions of BiH institutions, which is regulated by Article III/3.b) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Constitutional Court concluded that in that part, the Constitutional Court has jurisdiction because these are acts that raise the issue of respecting Articles I/2 and III/3.b) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which the Constitutional Court has exclusive jurisdiction. On the merits of the case, the Constitutional Court concluded that the contested decisions, in the period from their adoption on September 2, 2025, to their repeal on January 18, 2026, were in contradiction with Articles I/2 and III/3.b) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina because they were adopted based on the Decision on the proposal of candidates for the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska made by Milorad Dodik on August 23, 2025, even though his mandate as President of Republika Srpska ended on June 12, 2025, as the date of the finality of the Court of BiH's verdict, which resulted in the termination of the mandate of the President of Republika Srpska, which was later only declaratorily confirmed in the proceedings before the Central Election Commission of BiH,” the Constitutional Court of BiH announced on Friday after a two-day discussion at a plenary session.

The decision was made by a 5:2 vote. Domestic judges Mirsad Ćeman and Larisa Velić, and foreign judges Angelika Nussberger (Germany), Helen Keller (Switzerland), and Ledi Bianku (Albania) voted in favor. Judge Valerija Galić and judge Marin Vukoja, who was recently appointed to the Constitutional Court of BiH by the votes of the parties of the "Trojka" (Three) and HDZ BiH, were against, arguing that it is pointless to discuss a government that has resigned.

That their legal stance is directly linked to the policies of HDZ, i.e., SNSD, could be seen in the moves taken by the authorities of Republika Srpska in the past few days. Namely, after the plenary session of the Constitutional Court of BiH was scheduled to discuss the constitutionality of the RS Government, Savo Minić decided to resign, stating that such a move was "a response to political processes directed against Republika Srpska from political Sarajevo". Three days later, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska accepted the resignation and dismissed Minić's Government. On the same day, at the proposal of acting President of RS Ana Trišić-Babić, the National Assembly appointed a "new" Government with Savo Minić at its head on Sunday, January 18.

It was precisely this maneuver by the authorities of Republika Srpska that HDZ judges Valerija Galić and Marin Vukoja used during the discussion on assessing the constitutionality of Minić's "previous" Government.

The agreement between HDZ and SNSD was indirectly confirmed by member of the Presidency of BiH Željka Cvijanović, who, in a post on the X platform, accused "Bosniak and European judges" of making the decision, without mentioning "Croatian" judges Galić and Vukoja at all.

“The globalist voting machine in the Constitutional Court of BiH, consisting of Bosniak and European judges, is not giving up on confronting Republika Srpska and its sovereignist institutions,” Cvijanović stated.

Željka Cvijanović, in her post, does not mention "Croatian judges" in the context of the decision on the unconstitutionality of the RS Government, which is another confirmation of the claims of our sources from the Constitutional Court of BiH regarding the votes of Valerija Galić and Marin Vukoja.

Valerija Galić's mandate, we remind you, expires this year, and the current convocation of the House of Representatives of the FBiH will elect her successor. Marin Vukoja's mandate expires only in 2043. He was appointed judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH in May 2024 with the votes of HNS parties (two HDZs and HNP), SDP, Naša stranka, NiP, and their "satellite parties" PDA and Ram Isak's party.

We remind you that, according to the Constitution of BiH, the Constitutional Court of BiH has nine judges, of which six are domestic and three are foreign. Two judges are elected by the National Assembly of RS, while four are elected by the House of Representatives of the FBiH. The ethnic affiliation of the judges is not important. Therefore, two Bosniaks or two Croats do not have to be appointed from the Federation of BiH to the Constitutional Court, which means that a judge from the "Others" category could be appointed as Valerija Galić's successor. Parties from Sarajevo have enough votes to make such a decision. However, the "Trojka" parties followed the positions of HDZ when electing Marin Vukoja. Marin Vukoja voted in favor of SNSD during the vote in the Constitutional Court of BiH on the RS Government. The mandate of judge Mirsad Ćeman also expires, and a Commission has been formed to conduct the procedure for electing two judges from the FBiH.

Two judge positions elected by the National Assembly of RS are still vacant.