On October 24, 1991, the first session of the Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held in Sarajevo, marking the establishment of the institution that would later become the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. Thirty-five years later, the anniversary commemorates a significant chapter in the political and institutional history of Republika Srpska.
The establishment of the Assembly marked the beginning of a political and institutional process that would lead to the proclamation of Republika Srpska, the adoption of its Constitution and the development of its key institutions.
The political circumstances of 1991
In the autumn of 1991, Yugoslavia was disintegrating, the war in Croatia was already underway, and the question of the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina had become a central issue in parliamentary debates.
The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) advocated a sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Serb representatives, meanwhile, supported remaining within Yugoslavia and challenged the possibility of two constituent peoples determining BiH’s statehood without the consent of the third.
Against this backdrop, the Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina held its inaugural session on October 24, 1991, laying the institutional foundations for what would become the National Assembly of Republika Srpska.
Anniversary ceremony to be held in Pale
The 35th anniversary of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska will be formally commemorated in Pale on October 24.
The ceremony will mark three and a half decades since the establishment of the institution and recall its role in the political and constitutional development of Republika Srpska.
Source: RTRS
