Alliance for Changes suffered a heavy defeat in the elections, the one which might cause the agreement between opposition parties in the RS to fall apart, said the analyst Tanja Topić.
Although it is still being waited for the publishing of final results of the local elections which were held on Sunday, when it comes to Republika Srpska it is evident that the Alliance for Changes is probably the biggest loser. Apart from losing the battle for mayor in Banja Luka, Trebinje, Prijedor, the SDS also lost some of their strongest footholds, like Pale. The SNSD managed to restore trust of citizens even in those municipalities like Gradiška and Prnjavor, where the mayors who are members of that party managed to make significant steps forward in improvement of the functioning of these local communities despite the catastrophic situation they found after the elections in 2012 .
Less than three hours after the polling places were closed, leader of SDS Mladen Bosić confirmed that the results were unexpectedly bad for this party. He announced that the party leadership will analyse the reasons behind election failure already this week and open the issue of inter-party responsibility. Politican analyst Tanja Topić stated that “the key question of these local elections is why the citizens of RS punished the opposition?”
“The opposition is definitely punished and has experienced a heavy defeat, which might result in the disintegration of the coalition of opposition parties,” Topić said.
According to Topić, the division into two blocks, which was present until these elections, is now gone.
“Apparently the opposition did not manage to leave the defensive role which was skilfully imposed to them by the ruling structures. The opposition did not manage to convince the voters that they are not traitors and that they have spent a lot of energy trying to defend itself from such qualifications. I think that matrix was dominant in these elections as well. I am talking about a framework which is primarily defined on ethnic-national basis. Therefore, local topics and problems were overshadowed by the referendum and nationalistic frictions that we have been exposed to lately,” Topić added.
Topić reminded that even in those municipalities that were taken over by the opposition parties in local elections in 2012 the citizens mercilessly punished the mayors by not giving them a second chance, although some of them led a tough battle with inherited debts and problems, and even managed to make certain steps forward.
“No third, alternative current was created, which caused nearly half of the voters to stay at home because they did not recognize an option that can satisfy them. Those who voted in the elections are clearly the citizens who are satisfied with their position and situation and who fully trust those who they voted for,” Topić concluded.
Economist Svetlana Cenić said that the bad results of the Alliance for Changes in the elections were not unexpected to her.
“I previously said that the opposition is making a terrible mistake by allowing Milorad Dodik to pull them in his game. They constantly defended themselves, saying they are not traitors and they were drawn to the story about the referendum, and then they made contradictory statements after the referendum. That is not how you play at the field where the opponent has set both the rules of the game and the audience,” said Cenić. She concluded that after the referendum the “elections were a joke, because the citizens did not reflect on local issues, but on nationalistic topics”.
(Source: hayat.ba)
