Branko Blanusa elected new President of Serb Democratic Party

At the SDS Assembly held in Banja Luka, Blanusa was elected unanimously, receiving the support of all 241 delegates present at the session, according to Nezavisne.

Blanusa was the only candidate for the position of president of the largest opposition party in BiH's Republika Srpska (RS) entity. He takes over from Jovica Radulovic, who was appointed acting president of SDS in mid-2025 after Milan Milicevic stepped down from the party’s top post.

Blanusa only became more widely known to the public a few months ago, when SDS nominated him as its candidate for President of Republika Srpska in the snap elections held on November 23. The final outcome of those elections is still pending, after Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Central Election Commission (CIK BiH) recently annulled results at 136 polling stations, making it highly likely that voting will be repeated at those locations.

If the repeat voting takes place, Blanusa would enter the renewed race for Republika Srpska president with an advantage of more than 6,000 votes over Sinisa Karan, the candidate of the ruling SNSD. According to currently confirmed results, Karan holds an overall lead of around 9,500 votes.

One potentially significant issue is that the SDS Statute does not allow the party president to simultaneously serve as President of Republika Srpska

This is stipulated in Article 47 of the party statute.

Such a scenario is currently a realistic possibility if Blanusa maintains his lead over Karan in the event of repeat voting.

In that case, the position of SDS president would be temporarily assumed by the president of the party’s Main Board, for a period of six months or until a new session of the party assembly is convened.