Dodik Proposes Viskovic to Form Bosnian Serb Govt

Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, who was recently elected as the Serb member of the tripartite state-level presidency, said on Thursday that his party colleague Radovan Viskovic should be given a mandate to establish Republika Srpska's new government after this month's elections.

"We believe that our coalition partners will support our proposal that the future Republika Srpska government be led by a longtime official of the Alliance of the Independent Social Democrats, the vice-president of our party and head of the SNSD's parliamentary group in the previous parliamentary assembly," Dodik said.

Dodik's announcement came as a surprise because Marko Pavic, the leader of the Democratic People's Alliance, DNS, a coalition partner of Dodik's SNSD, has previously stated that he would ask for someone from his party to be the new prime minister.

Pavic made the same request after the previous election in 2016, but his plea was not fulfilled.

The announcement could further complicate relations between the DNS and SNSD, which are already tense due to the recent dismissal of a DNS minister in the Republika Srpska government and the sacking of DNS CEOs of two public enterprises, analysts said.

Pavic has not yet reacted to Dodik's announcement.

"Political relations in Republika Srpska in the forthcoming period will be determined by the relationship between DNS and SNSD," Banja Luka-based political analyst Tanja Topic told BIRN.

The DNS scored its best election result in the history of the party at this month's polls.

The party led by Pavic will have 13 seats in the Republika Srpska parliament, five more than it won at the previous election.

Zeljka Cvijanovic, the former Republika Srpska prime minister, who is also from...