BOSNIA - PREVIEW OF DECEMBER 9 RS SPECIAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SARAJEVO 002623 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR EUR(DICARLO),EUR/SCE(HOH/FOOKS/STINCHCOMB); NSC FOR BRAUN; OSD FOR BIEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR BK SUBJECT: BOSNIA - PREVIEW OF DECEMBER 9 RS SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On December 9, Republika Srpska (RS) will hold a special election for RS President to fill a position vacated by the September 30 death of former RS President Milan Jelic. While there are several strong candidates, most analysts agree that none of them are likely to defeat the overwhelming favorite, Rajko Kuzmanovic. Kuzmanovic, an elderly academic, is the candidate from RS PM Milorad Dodik's ruling party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD),which dominates RS politics. Kuzmanovic has pledged to get back competencies the RS has transferred to the state. Under RS election law, the top vote winner, which will be a Serb, becomes President, and the top two vote winners from the other two constituent peoples (a Bosniak and a Croat) become Vice Presidents. The question of whether the top Bosniak and Croat candidates will replace the current two RS Vice Presidents is unclear. The incumbents maintain that their mandates remain validate despite Jelic's death. This issue will likely end up in the RS Constitutional Court. Assuming no unanticipated challenges, the new President will take office once the results are certified, which in the past has happened within about a month. END SUMMARY. The Election -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Because of the sudden death of RS President Milan Jelic on September 30, the Republika Srpska (RS) will hold a special presidential election on Sunday, December 9. There are ten candidates, including eight Serbs, one Croat and one Bosniak. The new presidential mandate will last until the next general election in 2010. The leading candidate is 76-year old Rajko Kuzmanovic, who was nominated by RS PM Dodik's party, SNSD. Other top contenders include Mladen Ivanic, president of the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) and Ognjen Tadic, representing the Serb Democratic Party (SDS). Due to the tremendous popularity of the SNSD in the RS, Kuzmanovic is widely expected to succeed Jelic as president. The real competition will be between Ivanic and Tadic for second place. ¶3. (SBU) Turnout is expected to be low. After ballots, including absentee votes, have been tabulated the state Central Election Commission (CEC) must certify election results within 30 days. The winner of the election will be inaugurated upon certification of the elections. During 2006 elections preliminary results were available by midnight of election day. The pace of certification depends the number of absentee ballots and whether there are any legal challenges to the elections. In the 2006 election the CEC certified the RS Prime Minister and Presidential elections after 27 days. The Serb Candidates: Kuzamanovic -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Academic Rajko Kuzmanovic is a professor of law, former dean of the Faculty of Law in Banja Luka, former rector of the Banja Luka University, and a member of the RS Academy of Arts and Sciences. Kuzmanovic was the president of the RS Constitutional Court from 1998 to 2002, and is one of the foremost constitutional law experts in the RS. Kuzmanovic has said he will focus on strengthening the RS and its legal regime, and that he will try to get back competencies that the RS has transferred to the central BiH government. Before his nomination, Kuzmanovic was not a member of the SNSD, but he was close to Dodik. ¶4. (SBU) Many loyal SNSD voters feel let down by SNSD,s choice of presidential candidate and believe the party should have selected a younger, more dynamic person with recent political experience. Some of these voters could either abstain or consider other candidates, but the vast majority are likely to remain loyal to SNSD. There has been speculation that Dodik struggled to find a candidate, since most of the effective SNSD politicians already hold key positions, and the alternatives were either not personally loyal to Dodik and/or vulnerable to allegations of corruption. The Democratic Peoples Alliance (DNS) and the Socialist Party -- both SNSD coalition partners in the RS government -- are backing Kuzmanovic instead of running their own candidates. SARAJEVO 00002623 002 OF 003 The Serb Candidates: Ivanic -------------- ¶5. (SBU) In addition to being president of the PDP -- which he established in 2000 -- Mladen Ivanic, aged 49, is a deputy in the BiH House of Peoples and an economics professor at the University of Banja Luka. He is the most prominent and experienced politician in the race. Ivanic served as RS PM from 2000 to 2002 and as BiH Foreign Minister from 2003-2007. On October 23 the BiH Prosecutor's office indicted him on corruption charges related to Srpske Sume (RS Forests). Ivanic has announced that, if elected, his long term priorities are to defend the constitutional position of the RS and to deal with social issues such as unemployment and pension reform. He has said that he wants the RS to move towards the EU, but will not allow the RS to lose its constitutional status under Dayton. ¶6. (SBU) Ivanic's short term goals are to "set right" the Milan Jelic Scholarship Foundation, which has been mired in controversy since it announced the recipients of scholarship funds. He also wants to provide health centers throughout the RS with equipment for early breast cancer detection. Ivanic,s pitch to the voters is that only the PDP cares enough about the RS Presidency to put forward a real candidate (i.e., the president of its party). He claims that he is close enough to Dodik to be able to work with him constructively, while at the same time maintains a degree of separation as a leader of an SNSD coalition partner. Although Ivanic is clearly the heavyweight of the race, SNSD's grip on RS politics makes it extremely unlikely that he would defeat Kuzmanovic. The Serb Candidates: Tadic -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Ognjen Tadic, aged 33, is a young, energetic lawyer from Banja Luka running as the SDS presidential candidate. He is currently a deputy in the RS National Assembly. His campaign is based on a &patriotic agenda," with calls for the departure of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and the return of transferred competencies. Tadic has drawn attention to government spending on luxuries, such as the new government building, while common people are struggling to survive. He is an eloquent and dynamic speaker and does well in debates and TV appearances. He has not been tied to corruption. Although Tadic is popular in the RS, the current all time low SDS opinion ratings make it difficult for Tadic to win. Tadic was previously a prominent member of the Serb Radical Party and was known for his nationalist positions. The Serb Candidates: The Others -------------- ¶8. (SBU) There are five other Serb candidates for the Presidency, none of whom are expected to generate serious support. Slobodan Popovic, of the Social Democratic Party of BiH (SDP) is an ethnic Serb but his campaign is focused mainly on RS Bosniaks, the traditional electoral base of the SDP. He supports the continued presence of the OHR and a High Representative (HR) with full Bonn powers. Mirko Blagojevic, representing the Serb Radical Party Dr. Vojislav Seselj, is an eccentric former boxer. His antics -- including his ejection from a local TV studio for refusing to remove his tall black fur hat with a Russian coat of arms for an interview, and his promise to purchase a Russian car if elected, "to show his loyalty to Russia" -- have provided comic relief for the campaign. Blagojevic has criticized the RS government for making decisions that are "harmful to the RS," and used his campaign to promote books by Hague indictee Vojislav Seselj. Krsto Jandric is president of the marginal Peoples Democratic Party (NDS),a splinter group from the RS Socialist Party. Jandric is a medical doctor and his priorities are economic development and education. Nikola Lazarevic of the European Ecology Party (E-5) and Dragan Djokanovic, an independent, are almost completely unknown. Djokanovic has announced plans to "remove" Dodik immediately after being sworn in. The Bosniak and Croat Candidates SARAJEVO 00002623 003 OF 003 -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Under RS election law, the candidate who receives the most votes in a presidential election becomes President. The two top vote-getters from the other two constituent peoples (in this case Bosniaks and Croats) become RS Vice Presidents. However, the law is silent on the current situation involving the death of a sitting president. The RS already has a Croat and a Bosniak vice president, both of whom maintain that their mandates continue despite the death and new election. Nevertheless, there is one Croat and one Bosniak candidate running in the current election. There are conflicting views about whether they should receive the vice presidential mandates, per the election law, or if the current Vice Presidents will stay in place. The issue is likely to go to the RS Constitutional Court. ¶10. (SBU) The only Croat candidate is Anton Josipovic, of Work for Progress (RZB). He is a well known and successful former boxer with no political experience. Josipovic says he will focus on reducing unemployment and protecting domestic production. The sole Bosniak candidate is Nedzad Delic, of the BiH Democratic Party of the Disabled. Delic is severely disabled, is restricted to a wheelchair, has limited mobility and almost no ability to speak. He makes public statements through an interlocutor, who "interprets" what Delic wants to say. According to the interlocutor, Delic is running for president to raise awareness of the difficult conditions in which the disabled live in the RS and BiH. The Campaign -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Under BiH election law, the presidential campaign lasts for fifteen days. The campaign began on November 24, when billboards immediately sprung up across the RS promoting Kuzmanovic, Tadic and Ivanic. Sine then, the candidates have been on the campaign trail, making daily visits to cities, towns and villages around the RS for town hall meetings and interviews. At every stop, top stars of the SNSD, including Dodik, speaker of the RS National Assembly (RSNA) Igor Radojicic, Serb member of the BiH Presidency Nebojsa Radmanovic, and (resigned) Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers (CoM) Nikola Spiric have been at Kuzmanovic's side, and they have even done most of the speaking on his behalf. During several town hall meetings, Dodik said it is time that foreigners leave BiH (referring to OHR),saying that most of their decisions have been harmful to the RS. Kuzmanovic himself is a slow and weak speaker, and had difficulty keeping up with his opponents in the presidential debates. Tadic and Ivanic have come across as poised and charismatic. During the campaign stops on behalf of Kuzmanovic, Dodik urged RS voters to turn out "massively" at the polls to, "show the world their support for the RS." COMMENT -------------- ¶12. (SBU) A few months ago, one of our interlocutors told us that the SNSD could nominate "a spoon" for president, and that candidate would still win. Although the general public in the RS seems disappointed, and perhaps even insulted, that Dodik did not pick a better candidate, the majority of voters are likely to vote for Kuzmanovic anyway, out of loyalty to the SNSD and to Dodik. COMMENT. ENGLISH