Citizens of Republika Srpska (RS) are voting on Sunday to elect a new president after the previous president, Milorad Dodik, was removed from office for defying the international special envoy for peace in Bosnia.
Dodik was removed from the RS presidency in August after being sanctioned for ignoring the decisions of Christian Schmidt, the international overseer of the peace agreement that has kept Bosnia united since the end of the 1990s interethnic war.
The early elections in Republika Srpska—one of Bosnia’s two semi-autonomous entities alongside the Bosniak-Croat Federation—mean that the winner will serve less than a year, until the general elections scheduled for October 2026.
The vote is seen as a crucial test of support for Dodik’s nationalist party, which has held power for nearly two decades.
Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. and will close at 7:00 p.m., with around 1.2 million eligible voters choosing from six candidates, although two are considered the main frontrunners, according to RFE/RL.
Sinisa Karan, former Interior Minister, is a close ally and Dodik’s personal pick. Dodik remains the head of his party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD).
The main opposition, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), nominated Branko Blanusa, a relatively unknown 56-year-old electrical engineering professor, who has repeatedly accused Dodik and his party of corruption.
The elections come after years of clashes between Bosnia’s High Representative, Christian Schmidt, and Dodik—conflicts that analysts say pushed the country to the brink of its most serious political crisis since the 1992–1995 war.
Earlier this year, Dodik was sanctioned and banned from holding public office for six years due to noncompliance with Schmidt’s decisions. Initially defiant for months, Dodik, who maintains close ties with the Kremlin, unexpectedly accepted his removal in October.
During the campaign, Karan has been openly promoted as the continuation of Dodik’s political legacy.
The candidate for president was present at Thursday’s closing rally, where Dodik, who described Bosnia as an “impossible state” during the campaign, promised that efforts toward Republika Srpska’s statehood would continue.
“Our vision is freedom, and there is no freedom without a state,” Dodik told the crowd in the administrative capital of Banja Luka.
Meanwhile, Blanusa blamed Dodik’s policies for endangering the future of the entity and accused him of corruption.
“He has humiliated RS institutions for his personal interests and wealth,” Blanusa said during an electoral event earlier this week.
