Several referendums have been held in Republika Srpska during its existence, whilst others have been proposed but not happened.
History
Although Republika Srpska was not proclaimed until January 1992, a referendum on remaining part of Yugoslavia was held amongst Bosnian Serbs in November 1991, with 98% voting in favour of the proposal, resulting in the establishment of the territory in 1992.Bosnien-Herzegowina, serbischer Teil, 10. November 1991 : Unabhängige Serbische Republik in Bosnien-Herzegowina Direct Democracy
Two further referendums were held in the midst of the Bosnian War; a referendum on the Vance-Owen peace plan was held in May 1993 and rejected by 96% of voters.Republika Srpska (Bosnien-Herzegowina), 16. Mai 1993 : Vance-Owen-Friedensplan Direct Democracy In August 1994 a referendum was held on the Contact Group plan and rejected by 97% of voters,Republika Srpska (Bosnien-Herzegowina), 28. August 1994 : Teilungsplan der internationalen Kontaktgruppe Direct Democracy with the vote denounced by the Contact Group.Bosnian Serbs, in Referendum, Reject Peace Plan New York Times, 30 August 1994
Proposed referendums 2011 referendum on the authority of the state judicial system Ideas about a referendum in the RS were first ventilated by Milorad Dodik during his premiership period in 2006-2008, rekindled after Montenegro's 2006 independence referendum and Kosovo's 2008 unilateral declaration of independence.Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, REFERENDUM IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA: A TEST FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, Helsinki Bulletin No. 78, May 2011
In April 2011 a formal proposal for a referendum was submitted to the RS Assembly, which voted for it and scheduled it for mid-June 2011. The debate on the vote was remarked as confusing, as the matter at stake was unclear: whether independence, opposition to the "imposed decisions" of the High Representative, or (as finally stated) merely the functioning of prosecution offices and courts at central level.Vreme, May 5, 2011
International reactions varied. High Representative Valentin Inzko openly confronted Milorad Dodik over the decision on the referendum, giving him seven days to withdraw the referendum decision, and announcing readiness to use its executive powers to annul the decision and impose sanctions on the RS leaders, up until dismissing Dodik from his post, should the referendum (deemed a violation of the Dayton legal order) proceed.The Guardian, 28 April 2011 In response, the RS leadership threatened to withdraw all Serb representative from BiH institutions, including the Presidency and Council of Ministers, the Parliament and the judiciary.Ariel Zellman, The Politics of Referendum: Republika Srpska, 06 May 2011 The decision about calling the referendum did not gather as much support as expected from kin-state Serbia, with President Boris Tadic unwilling to "interfere" in Bosnia's internal affairs, while expressing opposition to OHR's plans and calling for a solution of the crisis through compromise. The debate on the issue at the UN Security Council on 9 May 2011 did not produce a common stance due to the disagreement of Russia with Inzko's position, and the reserves of China. Meanwhile, a publication of the influential think-tank International Crisis Group recommended a more moderate approach and deemed counterproductive to proceed confrontationally against Dodik. Finally, the issue was solved after a meeting between the RS President and the EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, in which Dodik agreed to withdraw the referendum in exchange for a "Structured Dialogue on Justice" among Bosnian institutions and the EU in which to discuss the substantial grievances of the RS authorities towards the BiH judiciary.EU Inside, 16 May 2011 While the EU intervention allowed to avert the crisis and revert the situation to the status quo in early April, the threat of a RS referendum remained in the background, as Dodik never withdrawn the legal acts concerning it.Ariel Zellman, The dangerous politics of leverage – Republika Srpska, TransConflict, 13 May 2011Valerie Hopkins, EU Pressure Causes Bosnian Serbs to Cancel Referendum, Hurriyet Daily News, May 13, 2011
2016 referendum on the authority of the BiH State Court A referendum on the authority of the National Court was called for in Republika Srpska and originally planned to be held on 15 November 2015.Bosnian Serbs Set Date for Controversial Referendum Balkan Insight, 25 September 2015 After legal challenges and postponements, it was indefinitely postponed as of February 2016.
The referendum was announced by surprise, after a period of tensions between the RS authorities and the state judicial institutions linked to the extradition case of the former Bosnian Army commander of Srebrenica, Naser Oric. Oric had been arrested in Switzerland on 10 June 2015 upon an arrest warrant from Serbia. Yet, Swiss authorities extradited him to Bosnia following the request of the authorities of its state of citizenship, who said Bosnia's state prosecution had a case against him. Oric was released soon after. At the same time, the UK had proposed a UN resolution on Srebrenica to the Security Council, which would be later vetoed by Russia following Serbia's request.
The referendum was proposed by RS President Milorad Dodik, who claimed that the State Court was biased against Bosnian SerbsBosnia's Serbs vote for referendum on national court BBC News, 16 July 2015 and that the state judicial institutions worked against the interests of RS, despite costing the Entity a big amount of money annually. A vote on holding the referendum was subsequently held in the National Assembly; 45 voted in favour, 31 abstained and the remaining seven MPs were absent.
Voters would be asked whether the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina should have authority over residents of Republika Srpska. The referendum question read: "Do you support the unconstitutional and illegal imposition of laws by the High Representative of the international community and in particular the imposed law on the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the implementation of their decisions in the territory of Republika Srpska?"
An SNSD amendment adopted contextually established that the referendum would be held on the first Sunday after the expiry of 50 days from the date of entry into force of the decision on the referendum. The decision is set to enter into force on the eighth day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the RS. Given these conditions, the original date for the consultation was set for 15 November 2015.
Reactions The decision was met with opposition from domestic and international actors alike. The RS opposition parties (members of the state-level government coalition) convened that state judicial institutions were not working satisfactorily, but opposed "Dodik and the RS authorities' manipulation of citizens by means of a referendum", hence abstaining on the final vote, and expressed confidence that - as the one announced in 2011 - the referendum would never be held. RS MP Vukota Govedarica reminded that Milorad Dodik had taken part personally in the adoption of laws establishing the state judicial institutions which he know was looking forward to dismantle. Bosnian Serb BiH Presidency member Mladen Ivanic said that Republika Srpska “has a right to hold a referendum” but that this was “not the happiest solution” to problems with the state-level judiciary. The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina claimed that the vote would have constituted a violation of the Dayton Agreement. However, the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska approved the holding of the referendum. The Peace Implementation Council (PIC), the international body tasked with supervising the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, said the announced referendum would represent a fundamental violation of the 1995 peace deal. The EU Ambassador, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, together with diplomats from the US, the UK, France, Germany and Italy traveled to Banja Luka on Monday to emphasize their shared opposition to the vote, deemed an intolerable and "unconstitutional attempt not to reform but to undermine and weaken those authorities, and would thus pose a direct threat to the sovereignty and security of the country as a whole".Elvira Jukic, Bosnian Serbs to Hold Referendum on State Courts, Balkan Insight, 16 July 2015 In October, the EU Council (Foreign Affairs Council) expressed “serious concern” about preparations for the referendum, stating that “the holding of such a referendum would challenge the cohesion, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” and that “it would also risk undermining the efforts to improve the socio-economic situation of all Bosnia and Herzegovina citizens and to make further progress in EU integration”.Denis Dzidic, EU Foreign Ministers Condemn Bosnian Serb Referendum, Balkan Insight, 12 October 2015 The US Embassy described it as a "political provocation" and "a violation of the Dayton Peace Accords", fearing its repercussion on the BiH population. Russia stood out among the international reactions, by defining the consultation as an internal affair of Bosnia and Herzegovina and reminding of the long-standing Bosnian Serb complaints on BiH's judicial system. Russia added that "it is necessary to overcome the reasons behind the problem, instead of directing all forces to fight its visible consequences."
Legal challenges Bosniak and Bosnian Croat politicians soon began the process of attempting to suspend the referendum.Fear and loaning in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska’s controversial referendum Open Democracy, 25 November 2015 Despite divisions among the Croat caucus, Bosniak MPs in the RS Assembly challenged in front of the RS Constitutional Court the compliance with the RS Constitution of the assembly's decision allowing the referendum to be held, raising their vital national interest veto (VNI). As a response, the majority of the RS Council challenged the Bosniak veto before the RS Constitutional Court. Finally, the RS Constitutional Court rejected their appeal in September 2015. RS officials announced that the vote would be held on October 15. In fact, while the text of the RS Constitutions empowers two RS Constitutional judges over seven to back a veto, the rules of procedure of the same RS Constitutional Court require a two thirds majority for the same decision, de facto circumventing the constitutional text and voiding of power any VNI veto.Stefan Graziadei, The RS Referendum in Judges’ Hands, BiEPAG blog, 17 August 2015 On 1 October 2015 the caucus of Bosniak MPs in the Council of Peoples of Republika Srpska (the Entity's upper chamber) filed a legal complaint to temporarily block the establishment of the commission tasked to organize the referendum, invoking the clause that it violated the "vital national interest" of Bosniaks in the entity. Bosniaks noted that the 9-member commission was composed only of ethnic Serbs from the RS ruling coalition, with no opposition or non-Serb RS MP member.Srecko Latal, Bosniaks Try to Halt Bosnian Serb Referendum, Balkan Insight, 2 October 2015 Further legal challenges up to the BiH Constitutional Court would have been possible.
In February 2016, the referendum was indefinitely postponed, officially for lack of consensus among Bosnian Serb parties, after intense political pressures from abroad, including from Serbia's President and Prime MinisterBosnian Serb Leader Postpones Controversial Referendum, Balkan Insight, 9 February 2016 Yet, the RS Assembly's decision was not withdrawn. RS President Dodik merely withheld its approval for publication in the entity’s Official Gazette, which would have made it finally binding.