The constitutive session of the Banja Luka City Assembly is scheduled for December 17, but it is still uncertain whether and who will gather the parliamentary majority – SNSD or Mayor Draško Stanivuković. Given that the Banja Luka City Assembly needs to adopt the budget rebalance for this year and the budget proposal for next year by the end of the year, we investigated whether Banja Luka is facing another blockade.
Mayor of Banja Luka Draško Stanivuković announced a hot December when it comes to forming a parliamentary majority. “The SNSD’s tactic – the stalemate they are pushing Banja Luka into will not work,” said Stanivuković, who currently does not have a parliamentary majority of 16 councilors.
DRAŠKO STANIVUKOVIĆ, Mayor of Banja Luka
“Their tactic is to say we have 11 councilors, we are the opposition, let Draško do things with those who allegedly supported him, and those are their coalition partners who supposedly supported me but did not, those coalition partners must not lift a finger, because their seats in the Government are being shaken and that is a stalemate that SNSD is leading as if they are no longer guilty, and clearly they are.”
The SNSD City Board claims that they will act as the opposition in the City Assembly and denies the mayor’s claim that they were the main culprits for numerous blockages in the functioning of the city. They are telling the coalition partners in the previous mandate to go into coalition with Stanivuković, because, they point out, he became mayor thanks to their votes in the previous elections.
VLADO ĐAJIĆ, Chairman of the SNSD City Board: ” I congratulate Draško Stanivuković and I wish him to form an assembly majority. We no longer want him to accuse us of blocking something, of hindering it, while he wants to develop the city. Let him form a majority, let him govern the city and let him bear responsibility.”
LJUBO NINKOVIĆ, President of the BL City Assembly: “The fact that he did not submit work reports, abused his position, enabled material gain to third parties, and spent the budget illegally, which the main audit office for 2023 confirmed that we were right, the prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the matter. I absolutely claim that there was no blockade.”
Analysts assess that the councilors in the previous term were more spiteful than they were productive, and that the citizens were the ones who got the better of him due to the blockades. They suspect that the SNSD will be the opposition.
MLADEN BUBONJIĆ, political analyst: “It is hard to believe this, considering their position and the power generated both in BL and in the new entity. I doubt that this situation can be such that they are only a constructive opposition.”
LJILJANA SMILJANIĆ, journalist: “ I am afraid that in the new convocation we will not see anything different and that the situation will be the same, because in essence it does not matter who sits in the City Assembly, because they follow the instructions of the party presidents.”
The uncertain parliamentary majority and the constitution of the City Assembly leadership mean questioning and adopting the budget revision for this year and the budget proposal for next year. If a constructive solution is not found in the meantime, Banja Luka could start the next year, like last, in a blockade, BHRT writes.
