SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — An ally of Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik was leading in the presidential election in the Serb half of Bosnia, according to nearly complete preliminary results Monday, as the opposition alleged widespread voter fraud.
Sunday's vote in Republika Srpska came after Dodik was ousted as president over separatist policies that were creating instability in the tense Balkan country.
Dodik's ally Siniša Karan received about 50% of the votes, while his main opponent Branko Blanuza received about 48%, with about 99% of the votes counted.
Blanusa and other opposition leaders condemned “massive fraud” in three towns near the border with Serbia. They claimed the violations included the “illegal smuggling of voters” from neighboring Serbia suspected of casting votes for a pro-Dodik candidate.
“These elections are not over yet, they will end when the electoral process is repeated (in three cities), where, due to electoral manipulation, the results do not reflect the will of the people,” Blanuche said.
“If we gave up now, we would be just like them: we would deceive and betray the people,” he added.
Dodik was removed from office in August after a Bosnian court found him guilty of disobeying orders from the international High Representative for Bosnia, sentenced him to one year in prison and banned him from holding any public office for six years. He has since paid a fine to avoid jail time and stepped down as president, although he remains head of the ruling Independent Social Democratic Party.
Dodik on Sunday declared Karan's victory and criticized the legal proceedings that led to his removal from the presidency.
“They wanted to overthrow Dodik in an unfair way, and now they have two Dodiks and they will see us every day,” he said.
Karan added that “we will pick up where we left off.”
Bosnian Serbs control about half of Bosnia's territory. The other half is administered jointly by Bosniaks, who are predominantly Muslim, and Croats. These two entities are united by the central administration.
Four more contenders took part in Sunday's race.
Bosnia's complex political structure was created 30 years ago by a US-brokered peace deal aimed at ending a bloody 1992-95 ethnic conflict that killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless.
The war began when Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia and the country's Serbs took up arms to carve up their territory, hoping to join neighboring Serbia. Dodik still favors the permanent separation of the Bosnian Serb-controlled entity, which he has repeatedly declared unviable.
For such a policy, Dodik faced sanctions from the United States and Great Britain. But the United States lifted sanctions last month after Dodik agreed to step down. He also repeatedly clashed with international peace envoy Christian Schmidt and declared his decisions illegal in the Republika Srpska.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor using a generative artificial intelligence tool.
