The Election Commission of Republika Srpska (RS) announced on Wednesday that it will not conduct the early presidential elections scheduled for November 23, citing compliance with the recent conclusions adopted by the RS National Assembly (NSRS).
The elections were called by the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the presidency became vacant when Milorad Dodik was stripped of his mandate on August 18. The Court of BiH had sentenced Dodik to one year in prison and banned him from holding public office for six years for failing to implement decisions of the international High Representative.
RS Commission Challenges CEC’s Authority
RS Commission President Oliver Blagojević stated that the decision was taken during an extraordinary telephone session, adding:
“We will fully respect the conclusions of the RS Assembly. I expect other institutions, both at the RS and municipal levels, to do the same.”
However, CEC spokesperson Maksida Pirić responded that the RS Election Commission has no authority over presidential elections. She stressed that only municipal and city election commissions, under the mandate of the CEC, are responsible for organizing elections in BiH.
Political Context
On August 22, the RS National Assembly adopted a set of conclusions rejecting the organization of early presidential elections and urging Dodik to continue acting as president despite the court ruling.
The RS authorities had previously attempted to introduce their own entity-level Election Law to assume control over elections, but the BiH Constitutional Court declared it unconstitutional, annulling it.
Since the end of the 1992–1995 Bosnian war, election organization has been under state-level jurisdiction, with no constitutional provisions granting entities like RS the authority to run elections independently.
