Voters in Republika Srpska elect new leader after separatist Dodik’s ouster

In a snap presidential election that was called in August after the electoral authorities removed separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik&nbsp from office, voters are casting their ballots in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority political party.

After being found guilty of defying the international appointee’s rulings, Dodik was fired from office for defying Bosnia’s international peace envoy, Christian Schmidt, who had oversaw a peace agreement that had kept Bosnia together since the end of its 1992-1995 war, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and caused thousands of others, Dodik was imprisoned for defying the international envoy.

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Additionally, the court forbade him from running for president for six years, and gave him a one-year prison sentence that he avoided by posting bail. The Supreme Court of Bosnia upheld that decision in early November.

Dodik’s nationalist party, which has been in power for almost 20 years, is seen as facing a significant challenge with the election.

The winner will serve less than a year before an October general election as a result of the early voting. One and two candidates have a choice of about 1.2 million voters.

Sinisa Karan, a 63-year-old former interior minister who is Dodik’s personal choice, and Sinisa Karan, a personal choice, are the two main contenders to succeed him. The Union of Independent Social Democrats is still Dodik’s party’s leader.

Branko Blanusa, a 56-year-old electrical engineering professor who has repeatedly brought corruption allegations against Dodik and his party, was chosen by the main opposition group, the Serb Democratic Party.

The Central Election Commission will release the final official vote count only after the body has verified all outcomes, but preliminary results are anticipated on election night.

Along with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which both enjoy significant autonomy, Republika Srpska is one of Bosnia’s two main political parties. The Brcko District, a third, modest self-governing administrative body in the nation, has equal rights to the two.

Bosnian Serb leaders formally established the post-war constitutional structure of Bosnia in 1992, following the Dayton peace agreement, as Republika Srpska.

According to the most recent census, which was conducted more than a decade ago in 2013, Serbs make up 82 percent of its residents and smaller Bosniak and Croat minorities.