Milorad Dodik

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Milorad Dodik
Милорад Додик
Milorad Dodik
Incumbent
Assumed office 
28 February 2006
Deputy Anton Kasipović (Indp.)[1]
Omer Branković (SDA)[2][3]
Preceded by Pero Bukejlović
6th Prime Minister of Republika Srpska
In office
18 January 1998 – 12 January 2001
Preceded by Gojko Kličković
Succeeded by Mladen Ivanić
Born March 12, 1959 (1959-03-12) (age 49)[4]
Laktaši, Yugoslavia
Nationality Serb
Political party Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD)
Religion Serbian Orthodox
Signature Milorad Dodik's signature

Milorad Dodik (Serbian: Милорад Додик) (born March 12, 1959, Laktaši, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia) is the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (Савез независних социјалдемократа, Savez nezavisnih socijaldemokrata) political party. Dodik graduated from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Belgrade.

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[edit] Political career

From 1986 through 1990 he was the President of the Executive Board of the Municipal Assembly of Laktaši (i.e. the municipal "prime minister"). In 1990, in the first multi-party elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina he was elected to the Parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a candidate of the Union of Reform Forces. During the War in Bosnia, he served as a representative in the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska. During that time, he formed the Independent Members of Parliament Caucus (Клуб независних посланика у Народној Скупштини Републике Српске, Klub nezavisnih poslanika u Narodnoj Skupštini Republike Srpske), which was the only political opposition the Serb Democratic Party (Српска демократска странка, Srpska demokratska stranka), which held the absolute majority in the war-time parliament of the Republika Srpska.

The caucus he chaired was to form the core of the Party of Independent Social Democrats (Stranka nezavisnih socijaldemokrata, or SNSD) in 1996, after the peace was signed as a result of the Dayton Agreement. He was elected as the first President of SNSD. The party later united with another social-democratic party to form the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, of which Milorad Dodik is President. In 1997, he was elected into the NSRS.

[edit] Prime Minister of Republika Srpska (1998-2001, 2005-)

In January 1998, the then President of Republika Srpska Biljana Plavšić nominated him for Prime Minister. His government lasted through to January 2001.

During the years in opposition, he concentrated on the strengthening of his political party, which swept the elections in October 2006. During the election campaign, which he led under the slogan "RS, a better part of BiH" he stood opposite to the calls from the other BiH entity (namely from the Bosniak-dominated Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH)) for the abolishment on the Republika Srpska. In response to this, he called for a referendum on the independence of Republika Srpska.

[edit] Political Program

Main article: Alliance of Independent Social Democrats

Milorad Dodik and the SNSD stand for a Bosnia and Herzegovina that is organized as a decentralized, federal state, with the RS as one federal unit. Dodik claims that Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a multiethnic state, needs a sophisticated political system which would distribute political power equally, in order to protect its citizens' rights and prevent any of its constitutional peoples from dominating the other. Dodik further claims that the introduction of a simple pluralist democracy, with the entire country as one electoral unit, would lead to the country being dominated by the Bosniaks, as is currently the case in the Croat-Bosniak Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also believes in the economy as the primary driver of the recovery of both the Republika Srpska and the Federation. He has been often criticized by Bosnian and foreign politicians alike for seeking to make the RS a semi-autonomous state and for seeking to impose many of his views without being willing to compromises. Also, it has been noted that he is not above insulting and threatening his political adversaries.

[edit] References

  1. ^ [http://store.eiu.com/product/50000205BA-sample.html Economist Intelligence Unit: Country Report Bosnia-Hercegovina (sample)]
  2. ^ SDA: Kandidatske liste SDA (2006)
  3. ^ US Department of State: Bosnia and Herzegovina background note
  4. ^ []

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Prime Ministers of Republika Srpska
Branko Đerić · Vladimir Lukić · Dušan Kozić · Rajko Kasagić · Gojko Kličković · Milorad Dodik (I) · Mladen Ivanić · Dragan Mikerević · Pero Bukejlović · Milorad Dodik (II)