BOSNIA – Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority entity, votes Sunday in a snap presidential election called after electoral authorities stripped separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik of the presidency in August.
Dodik was removed after he was convicted for refusing to carry out decisions issued by Christian Schmidt, the international peace envoy who oversees implementation of the Dayton peace agreement that ended the 1992–95 Bosnian War. The court also handed him a one-year prison sentence – which he avoided by posting bail – and banned him from participating in politics for six years. Bosnia’s top court upheld that ruling in early November.
In October, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska appointed Ana Trisic-Babic as an interim president until the Sunday election. According to Bosnia’s Central Election Commission (CIK), voting will be open on Sunday, November 23, between 7am (06:00 GMT) and 7pm (18:00 GMT). More than 1.2 million people, spanning the three main ethnic groups – Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats – are eligible to vote. Turnout in previous presidential elections has typically ranged between 50 percent and 55 percent.
Although Trisic-Babic was appointed as an interim president, the law still requires new elections within 90 days of a president’s removal. The winner of Sunday’s election will serve only the remainder of Dodik’s term, less than a year, until next October’s general elections. (Aljazeera)
