Sarajevo, 28 August 2025 – The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC BiH) has scheduled early presidential elections in Republika Srpska (RS) for November 23, to elect a president from the Serb community.
This decision follows the revocation of Milorad Dodik’s mandate on August 18, after the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a final verdict sentencing him to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding public office for failing to implement the decisions of the High Representative. Despite the ruling, Dodik has refused to step down.
In the meantime, the RS Assembly has passed a series of unconstitutional laws and conclusions concerning the organization of a referendum in the entity, where citizens would vote on the Court’s ruling against Dodik and the CEC decision to strip him of his mandate.
The CEC clarified that elections are being called only for the RS president from the Serb community, since the mandates of the two vice-presidents (a Bosniak and a Croat) were not revoked.
At the session, it was also decided that the central voter list will close on August 27 at midnight, with around 1.266 million registered voters eligible to participate.
Holding the elections will cost approximately 6.49 million BAM (around €3.2 million). However, Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently operating under a temporary financing arrangement, as the state budget has not yet been adopted. The BiH Presidency submitted a draft budget on August 19, which includes funding for these early elections, but it still needs approval in both houses of the BiH Parliament.
Who can vote?
All adult citizens with registered residence in Republika Srpska who are included in the official voter registry will be eligible to cast their vote. The registry is managed by the CEC, and citizens can verify their registration, polling station, or request corrections such as removing deceased voters.
Who will conduct the elections?
The CEC BiH is responsible for organizing and overseeing all elections in the country – general, local, and early. In March 2024, the High Representative expanded the powers of the CEC by amending the Election Law, enabling it to appoint members of polling boards (more than 12,000 in the 2024 local elections).
For the November elections, the CEC will oversee technical preparations, including printing ballots, deploying electronic voter identification systems, and vote counting technology, which are expected to be fully implemented across BiH by the next regular general elections in October 2026.
