Republika Srpska National Assembly

The Republika Srpska National Assembly on Monday will debate and probably vote on the new labour law despite strong criticism from the opposition bloc and protests called by trade unions.

Resistance to the legislation represents a major challenge to the ruling coalition in the entity, led by the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD.

A Western diplomat told BIRN on Wednesday that Dodik's letter explaining his motives for a proposed referendum challenging the authority of the state judiciary and the international High Representative's office for Bosnia and Herzegovina, both of which he believes are biased against Serbs, has been ignored by international officials.

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik proposed on Tuesday that a referendum challenging the authority of the state-level judiciary and Bosnia's top international official, the High Representative, should take place at the beginning of September. 

The Republika Srpska National Assembly on Tuesday was set to go ahead with a debate on changes to the law on peace and order after its Committee for European Integration and Regional Cooperation on Monday rejected calls for the law to be withdrawn from the agenda.

Rajko Vasic, former general secretary of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, rocked Bosnia's political scene over the weekend with a blog post that urged the party's leader Milorad Dodik to step down.