BiH Presidency member, Milorad Dodik, announced that he will run for reelection in the general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina in October this year.

Dodik is also the leader of the ruling party in Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity and initiated moves to withdraw the RS from numerous state institutions.

The President of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of BiH, Suad Arnautovic, previously said the institution is prepared to reject Dodik’s candidacy in case the High Representative of the international community in BiH, Christian Schmidt, determines that he is violating the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement and the Constitution.

“The Central Election Commission of BiH does not decide on candidacies and this talk from Suad Arnautovic is not coming from him. In Sarajevo, they are constantly talking about ways to prevent my candidacy as that would be the collapse of the Republika Srpska,” Dodik told reporters.

Dodik said he will “continue to fight for Republika Srpska.”