Bosnia's Republika Srpska entity is holding a presidential election after Milorad Dodik's removal from office. Dodik's endorsement went to SNSD's Siniša Karan, while the opposition SDS party claims its candidate leads in the polls, which SNSD denies.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's entity of the Republika Srpska (RS) is set to hold its presidential election Sunday after the state-level Central Election Commission scheduled the vote following now-former President Milorad Dodik's removal from office.
The BiH court revoked Dodik's mandate after finding him guilty of defying the High Representative's decisions.
Dodik received a one-year prison sentence, converted to a fine, and a six-year ban on political activity. The case triggered a months-long political crisis in the country, considered to be the worst since the end of the war in the former Yugoslav Republic in 1995.
Dodik, who has endorsed his ruling party SNSD's candidate Siniša Karan, said at a rally in Karan's support that “the will of the people is what matters most”.
He also criticised the state-level government in Sarajevo, stating that it wants to "devastate" the Serb-majority entity.
“We are defending the freedom of Republika Srpska, protecting its dignity; we are the ones building Republika Srpska, the ones who will not allow investments to stop. We are the guarantor of stability and the safety of every family in the RS,” Dodik stated.
From tackling corruption to protecting natural resources
Opposition candidate Branko Blanuša of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) has focused his campaign on corruption issues. "I can look every citizen of Republika Srpska in the eye, regardless of their faith or nationality," Blanuša said.
Four other candidates are running: Igor Gašević, Slavko Dragičević, Dragan Đokanović and Nikola Lazarević. Gašević and Dragičević have not responded to media requests. Đokanović has focused on veterans' issues while Lazarević has campaigned on natural resource protection.
“What is under way is an extended criminal enterprise — the final stage — the consequences of imposed education and a degraded society. In recent years, they have started selling off valuable natural resources,” Lazarević declared.
Opposition members claim Blanuša leads in polls, while SNSD disputes the polling data.
Election monitoring group Coalition "Pod Lupom" reported irregularities that Bosnia's Central Election Commission did not classify as violations.
The election takes place almost exactly 30 years after the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed.
The agreement, signed in November 1995, brought about the end of the war between the country's three main ethnic groups — Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats — that began in 1992 during the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, deemed as the bloodiest conflict on European soil since World War II.
The peace deal, parts of which act as the country's constitution, split the country into two main administrative units, or entities: the Serb-majority RS and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of BiH (FBiH), partially overseen by an umbrella state-level government.
Bosnia is one of six Western Balkan EU hopefuls, having been granted candidate status in December 2022. However, it is yet to open negotiations with Brussels on its path towards full membership.