Repeat early elections underway in BiH's Republika Srpska entity

Voting is being repeated at 136 polling stations across 17 electoral units. The repeat elections are taking place in Prijedor, Laktasi, Banja Luka, Doboj, Stanari, Lopare, Ugljevik, Osmaci, Zvornik, Vlasenica, Bratunac, Nevesinje, Gacko, Rudo, Bileca, Milici and Brcko. A total of 84,474 voters are eligible to vote.

Candidates for the position of Republika Srpska president include Sinisa Karan of the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Branko Blanusa of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), Dragan Djokanovic of the Alliance for New Politics, Nikola Lazarevic of the Ecological Party of Srpska, and independent candidates Igor Gasevic and Slavko Dragicevic.

CIK BiH called the early elections after a final ruling by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina barred former RS President Milorad Dodik from holding public office for six years.

In the November 23 elections, SNSD candidate Sinisa Karan secured victory. However, the opposition SDS alleged electoral fraud, claiming that voters’ will was manipulated. The party demanded annulment of election results in Doboj, Laktasi, Zvornik and Bratunac and requested that voting be repeated in those municipalities.

While CIK BiH rejected the SDS appeal, it decided to order repeat voting at selected polling stations.