Ousted ruler Dodik succeeded in qualifying for presidential elections in the Serb-controlled region of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The results are controversial and experts suspect Dodik will retain his power.
The Central Election Commission announced on Sunday evening that about 51 percent of voters voted for Siniša Karan. She is the candidate of Serbia’s nationalist ruling party SNSD, which also includes ousted ruler Milorad Dodik.
Some 48 percent voted for Karan’s challenger, Branko Blanuša, from the opposition SDS party. He is also a Serbian nationalist but criticizes the corruption of the current government.
Karan looks at the confirmation for Of course confrontation
Karan declares himself the winner of the election. He thanked voters and saw the results as a sign of support for his predecessor Dodik’s confrontational actions against the entire state of Bosnia-Herzegovina and against the West.
“The Serbian people and Republika Srpska can endure anything. But they will never be able to endure humiliation at the hands of foreigners who believe they destroyed the will of the Serbian people,” Karan said in his victory speech. The Serbian people have now given a firm answer: “They say no to every usurper who seizes power. They decide their own fate.”
Experts speculate that Dodik remains the most powerful person
Most experts assume that Karan will have little say as president, but his party leader, Milorad Dodik, will remain the most powerful man in the country. He ruled Republika Srpska authoritarianly for almost 30 years, in various capacities. He, his family and friends largely control the economy, judiciary and media in Republika Srpska.
Dodik must now resign from his position because he was sentenced to a ban on serving for six years by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik implemented a policy of separatism, signing illegal laws in Republika Srpska and ignoring state institutions in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Separatist The law was overturned
Recently the situation has calmed down a bit. The Republika Srpska parliament, dominated by Dodik’s party, has repealed a series of separatist laws. Due to this, Dodik, his family and friends were removed from the US sanctions list. Now they are no longer separated from the international banking system. US sanctions were imposed several years ago because of Dodik’s corruption and destabilization policies.
But Dodik and his party are spreading a very different narrative: foreigners want to harm Serbs in Bosnia and he is the protector of his people. That narrative is now echoing among voters who chose Dodik’s presidential candidate, Karan.
“They won’t let that happen to them.”
An elderly voter from the town of Brčko explains why he supports Karan. “I support Dodik and Karan because they are the best for their people. They will not let it affect them. I already support joining the EU, but there is a lot of manipulation from outside against us Serbs.” The court ruling against Dodik was “another” decision, and Serbs were not allowed to have a voice, he said. “Those who have something to say are all Bosnian Muslims and foreigners.”
A young woman from Brčko said: “The question of identity is very important in today’s globalized world. If you have someone who defends and protects your identity, so that you can say clearly and without fear that you are Serb, why not support that person.”
Doubts about the election results
There are doubts that Dodik voters actually constitute a majority. Bosnia’s election monitoring alliance, the NGO “Pod Lupom” (English “Under the Magnifying Glass”), recorded more than 30 manipulations and violations during the elections, according to the NGO’s spokesperson, Hasan Kamenjaković.
“In the morning we had violations of voting secrecy and missing voting documents. In the afternoon there were more and more reports of pressure being exerted on voters,” Kamenjaković said. Voters are intimidated, they are observed and recorded. “We had reports of vote buying. In Brčko we even called the police in one case and one person was arrested,” Kamenjaković said.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into the Serb-controlled Republika Srpska, the Bosnian-Croatian-controlled Federation, and the Brčko District as special administrative regions. These sub-entities have their own political institutions and are linked by a weak central government. The division of power between Serbs, Bosnians and Croats was divided based on quotas. There have been not one, but three state presidents for about 3.2 million residents.
opposition candidate accused the election of being unfair
Opposition candidate Branko Blancuša called the narrow result a great success because elections had not been fair, even before. He was largely ignored by state media.
“I only appeared on public television twice and SNSD candidate Karan 57 times. This is the official figure from Transparency International,” he said. Election Day was still very successful. “If there is no manipulation whatsoever, then I can declare my election victory,” Blanuša said in a speech immediately after the election.
Siniša Karan was initially set to spend less than a year completing his predecessor Milorad Dodik’s term. There will be another regular presidential election in Republika Srpska in October next year.
