The Party of Democratic Progress and its president Branislav Borenovic are increasingly straying from the path of a pro-European and conciliatory party in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and are approaching the nationalist and radical direction Milorad Dodik took, apparently hoping that the imitation of nationalism will put them in a better position.
The crisis in BiH is heating up more and more due to irreconcilable differences between the parties gathered around the ruling coalition in the Republika Srpska (RS) and the parties of the Coalition of Three regarding the political system of BiH. Because of this, the line between the government and the opposition is fading considerably in the RS, and both advocate similar policies.
The PDP’s president Branislav Borenovic and the mayor of Banja Luka, Drasko Stanivukovic, who has long been accused of “symbiosis” with Dodik, are leading the positions and statements of the PDP in the previous period, which are more in Dodik’s style than Dodik’s own statements.
Former party partner Jelena Trivic accused Stanivukovic of “playing” on Dodik’s side instead of hers in the race for president of the RS. Borenovic‘s strange behavior is reflected in his statements, which can easily be interpreted as a defense of SNSD’s policy. His statements are also rarely aimed critically at Dodik, who is his political opponent, so that would be logical, and the only place where his oppositional voice can be clearly heard is when adopting the criminalization of defamation.
Borenovic‘s latest statement is a criticism of Denis Becirovic for proposing conclusions that were adopted in the BiH Presidency by over-voting Zeljka Cvijanovic. Borenovic wrote about Becirovic that he “built his career on national bigotry” and said that “Becirovic can always do worse”.
However, his recent statements are even more telling. On the issue of the Constitutional Court of BiH, he has a completely identical position to the one expressed by Milorad Dodik before the coalition partners at the state level, namely that national decision-making must be introduced into that judicial institution.
“Any solution that implies that nine judges of the Constitutional Court of BiH come from the RS and Federation of BiH (FBiH)in such a way that one third comes from the RS and two thirds from the FBiH is acceptable to the PDP on the condition that the decision-making quorum must include at least one judge from each constituent nation and at least one from each entity,” Borenovic said a few days ago when this issue was particularly topical.
Winning votes from the nationalist position, a method thatDodik has been using for years, seems to have become the goal of the PDP, or at least its president. Until now, they have always tried to present the opposite of that, however, with the decline in popularity among the people comes the need to increase that popularity, that is, the need to survive on the political scene, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
