Dodik on surgery, Stanivuković on the stick

It was stormy on Sunday in Banja Luka, because the president of Republika Srpska (RS) and the president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) Milorad Dodik due to severe pain, he was urgently transferred to Belgrade, where he underwent surgery on Monday.

At the same time, the mayor of Banja Luka Draško Stanivuković clashed with the police in the parking lot in front of the RS Government, in the center of Banja Luka, because he was prevented from blocking that parking lot, but also because, as he claims, the RS government "turned on a signal jammer" so that journalists could not report live from that events.

After several hours of complicated surgery, which began at 8 a.m. on Monday, Dodik was placed in the intensive care unit.

Support from Aleksandar Vučić

Previously, on Sunday evening, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, visited him, who wished him a speedy recovery and good health.

"I look forward to continued cooperation and new meetings with the leadership of Srpska." A lot of joint work is ahead of us," Vučić announced on Instagram.

In the announcement of Dodik's cabinet, it was stated that he thanked foreign statesmen and all residents of the RS who sent him messages of support and wishes for a speedy recovery, which he received last night and today.

Attempt to block parking lot

On the other hand, Dodik's political opponent and the mayor of Banja Luka from the opposition Party of Democratic Progress (PDP), on Sunday evening, when Dodik was already in Belgrade, together with PDP president Branislav Borenović, tried to block the parking lot in front of the RS Government building.

The reason for this was the "continuation of the fight against the SNSD authorities", specifically because of the Law on the Budget System, which provides that cities with more than a hundred thousand inhabitants, which means Banjaluka, would receive less money in favor of underdeveloped and extremely underdeveloped municipalities.

Thanks to that law, according to Stanivuković, Banjaluka would be left without six million convertible marks, or about three million euros.

In response to the mentioned law, on Sunday evening, for the third day in a row, Stanivuković tried to block the parking lot used by the RS Government with an excavator.

Stanivuković and his colleagues tried to set up roadblocks on the approach to one of the parking lots, which they claim is city property and is being used illegally by the RS government.

"Jammer on"

However, the police appeared and prevented Stanivuković from that intention, and Stanivuković also claims that "the signal jammer was switched on" when he wanted to address the journalists, so that they could not report live from the event.

The conflict between Stanivuković and Dodik escalated on Friday when, in front of Dodik's office, Stanivuković turned off the street lights and shut off the water supply to the building where Dodik works, and blocked the access to the parking lot used by RS Government vehicles with fire trucks.

On Friday, concrete barriers were placed at the entrance to the parking lot, and in the evening, the entrance to the building was also prohibited for vehicles with the explanation that it is now a pedestrian zone.

At the same time, Dodik's cabinet was in complete darkness, and there was no water in the building, due to a malfunction that the city utility services did not want to repair.

In the evening, the RS police removed the concrete barriers, but Stanivuković immediately reacted and brought fire engines with which he again blocked the access to the parking lot, explaining that it was city property anyway.

He added that Banja Luka is now "under austerity measures" because the Government of RS is depriving it of part of its budget.

"I hear that there will be a malfunction tomorrow as well, and we won't fix it, and there won't be heating in the Government building because they didn't pay for it," Stanivuković said then.

Similarities and differences

Although he is 34 years younger than Dodik, Stanivuković did not profile himself as significantly different from Dodik as a politician.

Stanivuković is the youngest elected member of the National Assembly of the RS. In the general elections of 2018, he received the single largest number of votes of all the candidates for parliament.

In the 2020 local elections in Banja Luka, he was elected mayor, defeating Igor Radojičić, the candidate of Dodik's SNSD.

In mid-August 2023, as the mayor of Banja Luka, he banned the performance of several musicians from Belgrade, especially the rap duo Desingerica and Pljugica, for "promoting wrong values". He pointed out that with that move he banned primitivism, not art.

Stanivuković has a similar attitude as Dodik towards laws and the rule of law. While he was an opposition member, Stanivuković constantly spoke about the need to fight corruption and crime. He constantly cited examples of how the government violates the laws. However, when he came to power in Banja Luka, he began to ignore and mock even the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the RS.

While he was in the opposition, even after he was elected mayor, Stanivuković constantly attacked the government and Dodik's family. Then a private gay porn video appeared, in which Stanivuković's associate Ivan Begić appears. It was speculated, which was never confirmed, that Stanivuković was also on that video. Since the appearance of that video, the attitude of Stanivković not only towards Dodik and the Dodik family, but also towards the authorities in the RS, has started to change, writes Radio Slobodna Evropa.

Both are opportunists.

Both have unscrupulous opportunism, narcissism and lust for power, but Stanivuković does not have Dodik's charisma, although he has a great desire to be like Milorad Dodik.

When it comes to their attitude towards laws and court decisions, they respect them when they suit them, and when they don't suit them, they skip them and humiliate the judicial institutions.

Stanivuković - just like Dodik once upon a time - had one attempt to normalize relations with Bosniak politicians, so in 2021 Benjamina Karić, the mayor of Sarajevo, came to Banjaluk at Stanivuković's invitation. They opened the tap and washed together, which was a symbolic act of togetherness.

However, very soon after that, Stanivuković started making statements that were against the background of Dodik and the dominant narrative in the RS.

Stanivuković tried to build bridges with the Bosniaks, but he gave in very quickly because, pragmatic as he is, he realized that it would be a big political disadvantage for him and that he would lose a significant number of votes.

What Stanivuković and Dodik have in common is their attitude towards the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, because they both respect him very much and fight for his mercy.