Sinisa Karan won the early presidential elections of the Republika Srpska (one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina), held after the removal of former President Milorad Dodik from office.
Voting at 2211 polling stations in the Republika Srpska and abroad began at 7:00 and ended at 19:00 local time.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina reported that out of more than 1.2 million voters, 443,472 people took part in the voting.
CEC Chairman Jovan Kalaba said that, according to preliminary results, Sinisa Karan, the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Republika Srpska, the former Minister of Internal Affairs, is in the lead, having secured the support of the Union of Independents party Social Democrats”, headed by Dodik. According to official preliminary data, Karan received 50.89% of the votes, his main rival Branko Blanusa from the Serbian Democratic Party – 47.81%.
Kalaba noted that after counting 92% of the ballots, Karan received 200,116 votes, Blanusa – 188,010. Milorad Dodik congratulated Karan on his victory and noted the low turnout voters.
“The Republika Srpska does not threaten anyone. We will continue where we left off – with even greater strength,” said Sinisa Karan, who declared his victory. The opposition has reported violations in a number of polling stations in some cities and intends to demand a re-vote in these polling stations.
Dodik’s separatist rhetoric and the process of holding early elections in the Republika Srpska
Milorad Dodik, who has repeatedly attracted attention with his separatist statements, refused to recognize the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and personally the High Representative Christian Schmidt, established in within the framework of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992-1995.
Under the leadership of Dodik, the People’s Assembly of Republika Srpska decided in June 2023 not to publish the decisions of High Representative Schmidt in the official journal of the entity. Schmidt, who has the right to intervene in the legislative process, immediately reversed this decision.
Continuing to openly declare that “the Republika Srpska will separate from Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Dodik became involved in a criminal case on charges of failure to comply with OHR decisions. The prosecutor’s office demanded a real prison term for him.
The trial began in December 2023. As a result, Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding political positions. Later, the court of Bosnia and Herzegovina commuted the imprisonment to a fine, but the ban on political activities remained in force.
Based on this ban, the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina unanimously removed Milorad Dodik from the post of President of Republika Srpska.