Former Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vladislav Jovanović, told Srna that the announced referendum in Republika Srpska is a logical step in democracy and that anyone who denies the people the right to elect their representative “is carrying out a subversion against the Dayton Agreement.”
Jovanović emphasized that if the legitimacy of an elected official—specifically the president of Republika Srpska—is challenged through judicial or administrative means, then the political will of the people, the voters, is automatically being denied.
“In such a case, when a judicial or political decision is in conflict with the legitimately expressed will of the people, the dispute must be resolved by checking the people’s will, through a referendum that will be held,” Jovanović said.
He stressed that the will of the people should be the decisive factor, and that “those who politically and judicially deny the people’s will” must step back before the decision of the people, if they have even a minimum of democratic scruples.
“And if what they are doing is simply an offensive form of ‘removing’ the president of Republika Srpska because they disagree with his political views, then this is a subversive action that is inconsistent with the very concept of law, and even less with the original solution of the Dayton Agreement, which provided for the right of the people on both sides to choose their representatives,” Jovanović stressed.
The Serb diplomat underlined that the people’s right to choose their representatives, in line with the original provisions of the Dayton Agreement, cannot be denied by anyone—neither the executive nor the judiciary.
“If they do so, then they are committing a subversion against the Dayton Agreement and against the will of the people. That is the beginning and end of the definition of democracy,” Jovanović said.
He reminded that in any democracy, all power flows from the will of the people, not from the will of the executive bodies of government, whether governments or courts.
“That is why, to me, the decision to hold a referendum is fully justified. And if there still exists even a trace of legal awareness among decision-makers in the West, they must recognize that fact and bow to the will of the people, and not to administrative or judicial rulings,” Jovanović emphasized.
Source: RTRS
