BANJA LUKA – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) has called on the Central Election Commission (CIK) to investigate alleged electoral fraud during the recently held presidential election in the Republika Srpska entity.
According to TI BiH, suspicious voting patterns were observed at numerous polling stations, which could have influenced the election outcome.
On Sunday, snap presidential elections were held in Republika Srpska. According to the preliminary results, Siniša Karan, a university professor nominated by Milorad Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) party, won 50.3% of the electorate, while his main challenger, Branko Blanuša, who was supported by most of the opposition parties, won 48.36%.
“Due to the narrow margin between candidates and the number of polling stations reporting unnaturally high turnout compared to the average, there are concerns that irregularities may have affected the result, as votes from just 40 disputed polling stations account for a difference of over 8,500 votes”, Transparency International stated.
These disputed polling stations are primarily located in Doboj, Laktaši and Zvornik, where turnout in some cases exceeded 80-90%.
“At most of these polling stations, the candidate from the ruling coalition received over 80% of the votes, and in some cases more than 97%”, the TI statement notes. It also cites an example from two polling stations in Doboj, where the opposition candidate received only five votes, despite a high turnout.
At nine of 40 disputed stations, turnout was so high that if evenly distributed over the entire election day, one voter would have had to cast a ballot every 90 seconds, which is highly improbable.
Numerous court rulings in Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent years have confirmed widespread identity theft and the casting of votes on behalf of absent voters. Similar incidents were documented on election day itself, with some voters even providing public testimony.
