Bosnia’s Republika Srpska installs temporary president as Dodik steps aside

The Serb-majority organization of Bosnia and Herzegovina has appointed Ana Trisic Babic as its interim leader, marking the first official acknowledgment that Milorad Dodik has resigned from office after being barred from state politics by a state court.

Babic’s appointment was confirmed on Saturday by the Republika Srpska parliament, which stated that she would remain in office until November 23’s early presidential elections.

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Additionally, Dodik’s separatist laws, which challenged the authority of a foreign envoy and Bosnia’s constitutional court, were overturned by the legislature.

Dodik, a pro-Russian nationalist who has pushed for Serbian independence, refused to step down from office despite being banned politically. He has continued to seek presidential approval while challenging the court’s decision.

He publicly praised the US Department of the Treasury’s decision to remove four Dodik allies from its list of sanctions on Friday as part of his campaign to have them removed.

Dodik’s actions are currently being investigated by the United States, the UK, and several European governments for allegedly violating the 1992–1995 Dayton Peace Agreement.

Separatist actions

Following an appeals court ruling that placed him in jail for a year and made him unfit for a six-year term in political office, Bosnia’s electoral authorities in August removed him from office.

A rule that mandates the removal of any elected official serving more than six months in prison was applied by the Central Electoral Commission.

Dodik was found guilty in Sarajevo in February after the international envoy, Christian Schmidt, who oversees the Dayton accords’ implementation, refused to follow the judgments of the court.

Dodik later refrained from supporting the ruling, saying that he would continue to be in power as long as the Bosnian-Serb parliament, which his allies control, was supported. The Republika Srpska government characterized the decision as “unconstitutional and politically motivated.”

Dodik continues to enjoy strong support from regional allies, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. He has repeatedly threatened to break up Bosnia, causing fear in Bosniak communities and stifling previous US administrations.

The US-brokered Dayton Accords, which put an end to a devastating war that claimed about 100, 000 lives, continue to govern Bosnia. Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation have each shared national institutions, including the presidency, military, judiciary, and taxation system, as a result of the agreement.