BANJA LUKA / SARAJEVO – Siniša Karan, a university professor nominated by Milorad Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) party, narrowly won the early election for President of Republika Srpska on 23 November, according to preliminary results. Opposition has alleged electoral fraud and demands a repeat of the vote in three cities.
The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina updated the results on Monday morning, based on 99.7% of the returns. According to these results, Karan won 217,324 votes or 50.3% of the electorate. His main challenger, Branko Blanuša, who was supported by most of the opposition parties, won 208,955, which amounts to 48.37%.
The early elections were called after the Central Election Commission decided to revoke Milorad Dodik’s mandate as President of the RS. He had previously been convicted by the top Court of BiH for refusing to implement decisions issued in 2023 by the High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, and was banned from holding political office for six years.
Karan will only serve out the rest of Dodik’s original term in office, and the new presidential election will take place in less than a year, alongside the 2026 general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina in early October.
The turnout in the election was low, with only about 35% of eligible voters taking part. In the previous presidential election in 2022, the turnout exceeded 50%. Speaking at the press conference last night, Dodik claimed that many SNSD voters did not turn out because they saw the elections as illegitimate.
“They wanted to remove Dodik in a completely unfair political process wrapped in a story about a court, and now they’ve got two Dodiks, and are going to watch that every day”, said Milorad Dodik, who remains the leader of the SNSD party.
In his victory speech, Siniša Karan, a law professor, said that the result was a decisive “no” to any foreigner and usurper of the will of the Serb people.
“Serb people and our citizens have sent another important message – peace and stability are our priorities… Republika Srpska is not a threat to anybody. The strength of our institutions and continuity of our government will be directed to full economic flourishing and recovery”, Karan said.
Meanwhile, Jovica Radulović, the leader of the opposition Serb Democratic Party (SDS), which nominated Branko Blanuša, stated last night that the party did not accept Karan’s victory and accused the ruling parties of electoral fraud.
SDS stated it would demand a repeat of the vote in Doboj, Laktaši and Zvornik, where, according to them, the fraud took place.
Opposition candidate Branko Blanuša stated that candidates were not treated equally in the campaign, citing the findings of Transparency International that Karan appeared on the public broadcaster 57 times, while Blanuša himself appeared only two times.
