The candidates for the mayor of Banja Luka in the local elections in October from the opposition ranks are already known – Draško Stanivuković from the PDP and Jelena Trivić from the People’s Front. What is not known is who will be the candidate for mayor of the largest party in Republika Srpska – SNSD.
Former political comrades Draško Stanivuković and Jelena Trivić will compete in the race for mayor of Banja Luka. Stanivuković boasted of IPSOS research and the advantage of 47 percent of citizens’ support compared to Trivić’s 24 percent. He sarcastically told her that she could not be both the president of Republika Srpska and the mayor.
DRAŠKO STANIVUKOVIĆ, Mayor of Banja Luka (PDP)
“I am sure that it will go 10 times worse than in the previous elections. It is unbelievable to me that someone does not have a political reason to go absolutely into political destruction. Two defeats in a row is the end of a political career.”
The president of the People’s Front replies that Stanivuković’s statements speak of fear, because, she says, she has emerged victorious in previous rivalries. He points out that Stanivuković is definitely Dodik’s candidate.
JELENA TRIVIĆ, president of the People’s Front
“The opposition will not go in multiple columns, but the regime. One column will be SNSD, the official and formal candidates, be it Đajić, Amidžić or someone else, and the second column will be the regime’s unofficial but essential candidate Draško Stanivuković.”
SNSD leader Milorad Dodik did not want to reveal who will be the candidate for mayor of Banja Luka. There is speculation that the candidate could be Vlado Đajić, the president of the City Committee or Srđan Amidžić, the current Minister of Finance of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
MILORAD DODIK, president of SNSD
“We are coming to the elections at the end of the year and it is normal that everyone is extra nervous at the local level. I am observing the situation and if I judge that I have to get involved, I will get involved.”
Stanivuković lost a significant part of his support by approaching Dodik, and Trivić can make a good result only if he animates the abstainers, according to analyst Mladen Bubonjić. He says that the upcoming election campaign will be the dirtiest yet.
MLADEN BUBONJIĆ, political analyst
“Who will the SNSD throw out in the end. Will they conditionally put a benign candidate for Stanivuković and in that way provide him with an easier path to victory, or will they give in to the currents in the city committee of the SNSD and Đajić, or push forward a candidate close to him.”
