Who is to blame for the electoral defeat of Blanuša and SDS and will anyone but Petrović pay the guild? Will the discontent simmering in Bijeljina explode in the center? Can the pre-election disunity of the opposition turn into a post-election unification? Or is he in the game – a game with SNSD? The guest of the Plenum show was Branko Blanuša.
The president of SDS stated that after a detailed analysis of the election results, conclusions will be made about what needs to be changed in the party, stressing that one of the problems during the campaign was the lack of opposition unity. He also announced that he will not be a candidate for SDS president at the next election assembly.
Speaking about the election results, Blanuša said that the analysis has not yet been completed and that it is necessary to review the results in all local communities in detail, including the results of party lists and candidates for individual positions.
“It is very important for us to have a good analysis so that we can draw conclusions based on that, see what is not good, what needs to be changed and start a new organization,” said Blanuša.
He announced that through internal party elections and a new electoral assembly, which should be held in the first quarter of 2027, work will be done on the reorganization of the party.
“The result surprised me negatively”
Blanuša admitted that the election result surprised him, especially because, as he stated, the research before the election showed a significantly better result.
“In all these surveys, I had a better result by a few percent, that is, I was ahead of Mr. Sava Minic, so from that point of view I can consider this a surprise and that this result surprised me, of course negatively,” he said.
Nevertheless, he assessed that, when taking into account the balance of power between the opposition and the parties in power, the result could be expected to be unfavorable.
According to him, all four opposition parties together have significantly fewer votes than SNSD. At the same time, he stated that as a candidate for the president of Republika Srpska, he won more than 60,000 votes compared to the total number of votes of all opposition parties.
Blanuša believes that the result was influenced by relations within the SDS, cooperation with other opposition parties and the absence of joint action during the campaign.
“Unfortunately, the unity of the opposition was not achieved and in fact some members of the opposition worked more for the government than for the results of the opposition candidates,” he said.
He added that the support was not complete even within SDS, stating that some members and candidates were engaged in the campaign for party lists, but not in the campaign for the president of Republika Srpska.
“Meeting with Dodik cost me a certain percentage of votes”
Speaking about the meeting with Milorad Dodik, the video of which was published before the elections, Blanuša assessed that the event was too exploited by the media.
He said that immediately after the publication of the recording, he publicly confirmed that he had been at the meeting and explained its topic.
“Did it cost the election result? It certainly didn’t cost in the end, but it cost a certain percentage of votes,” Blanuša said.
He stated that individuals from the opposition, instead of supporting the candidate for president of Republika Srpska, spread stories about alleged betrayal and conspiracy theories, which, according to his assessment, caused mistrust among some voters.
Blanuša explained that the topic of the meeting was securing funds for the functioning of the SDS, which belong to that party from the budget, and which were blocked.
He pointed out that the president of the party, according to the SDS statute, has responsibility for finances and the spending of funds in accordance with the law, but he emphasized that important issues are decided by party bodies.
Speaking about possible future talks with other political parties, he said that he considers meetings of party presidents to be a normal part of political activity.
Blanuša will not be a candidate for SDS president
Blanuša confirmed that he does not intend to be a candidate for SDS president at the next election assembly.
“I think it’s time for some other people, maybe some younger, some who have more energy, who may be able to take more time and commit to being the ones who will lead the Serbian Democratic Party in the coming period,” he said.
He also referred to the information that he said at the session of the SDS presidency that he would not resign.
He explained that he said this because of media allegations and posts on social networks about a possible request for his resignation, but that there was no discussion about it at the session itself.
“My resignation, especially, I would be very happy to resign tomorrow if it would be a solution to the problems in SDS, but we really need to do an analysis to see what the real problems are in the Serbian Democratic Party, how these elections went, what who did during the campaign, what results they achieved,” he said.
He added that if the analysis shows he is primarily responsible for the result, he will resign voluntarily, without the need for dismissal or removal from office.
About the possible joint appearance of the opposition
Speaking about the formation of government at the state level, Blanuša said that the SDS has not yet made a decision on whether it will participate in the talks on the joint action of the parties from Republika Srpska.
He stated that this will be discussed first by the SDS presidency, after which a decision will be made on further steps.
“We don’t even have the final results of the election yet, we don’t know what the situation is. When that happens, we will have a session of the presidency and at that session we will analyze whether we should participate in it, what are the good sides and what are not,” he said.
Blanuša assessed that the possibility of forming a government at the state level without the SNSD is currently more of a theoretical than a practical option.
“I think it is an option that is very difficult to achieve and in my opinion something that is more in the realm of theory than practice,” he said.
He pointed out that he hopes for an agreement between the opposition parties when it comes to the election of delegates to the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and the Council of Peoples of the Republika Srpska, but he stated that discussions on this have not yet been held.
SDS will only support initiatives in the interest of citizens
Commenting on the announcements of possible changes to the Constitution of Republika Srpska, Blanuša said that the SDS will discuss any such initiative within the party bodies and that the people’s deputies will also be involved in the decision-making process.
He said that the party will support proposals that it considers to be in the interest of the citizens of Republika Srpska and in accordance with the SDS program principles.
“Our programming principles are that, of course, it does not endanger anyone and that it is in accordance with our programming principles,” said Blanuša.
He added that the party will approach every initiative seriously, but that there will be no support for other proposals.
“Republika Srpska does not benefit from lobbying”
Speaking about SNSD’s lobbying in the United States, Blanuša assessed that Republika Srpska and its citizens did not benefit from it.
He said that it would be good to see concrete results of the funds spent, such as serious investments that citizens could feel.
“It would really be good if we could see some concrete effects of the spent funds and lobbying, at least some serious investment and something that we could see that was done through this lobbying, and that the residents of Republika Srpska benefit from it,” he said.
Blanuša also pointed to, as he stated, the non-transparent spending of budget funds for lobbying.
“It is not known what is given, nor to whom it is given, nor how much is given. Practically every day we receive information about spending some funds for lobbying, for lobbying houses, for individuals and so on”, he said.
He added that the next period will show whether there will be changes in American policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, but he reiterated that so far he has not seen any concrete benefit from lobbying for Republika Srpska and its inhabitants.
