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Over 99% of Srpska voters support controversial national holiday in referendum
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared illegal the January 9 Srpska Day · Bosnian Serb president wins massive "yes" vote, turnout hardly exceeds 55%
The date has symbolic significance: on 9 January 1992 the Republic of Srpska was proclaimed, amid escalating political and military decisions that ended up in the Bosnian War. On that date, and adhering to the Julian calendar, Serbs also mark Saint Stephen's Day, Srpska's saint patron.
Serbian nationalism understand the date, therefore, as a cornerstone of Bosnian Serb statehood.
On the contrary, Constitutional Court judges, in accordance with the general provisions of the Dayton Agreement, recall that non-religious holidays must be representative of all Bosnia's peoples, which according to them is not the case for the January 9 celebration.
After the Court declared the holiday to be illegal, Srpska president Milorad Dodik announced a referendum on the issue.
Almost all people voting on Sunday supported maintaining January 9 as Srpska's national holiday. Turnout stood at 55.8%, in a republic where more than 80% of the population self-declares as Serbian.
Writing for the London School of Economics, analyst Jasmin Mujanovic believes Dodik is using the national holiday issue as an excuse not to deal with serious problems affecting Srpska and Bosnia -corruption, emigration, economic decline-, but to keep political debate in a "war-themed rhetoric."
Meanwhile, Giovanni Vale suggests in Balcani Caucaso that the referendum is linked to Dodik's personal ambitions and that the influence of foreign countries is not unrelated to the whole issue.