site.btaElection Campaign for Early Presidential Elections in Republika Srpska Closes on Friday

On Friday, in Banja Luka the rooftops are covered with snow, the streets are empty, and it is an official non-working day, but everywhere billboards and advertising screens spell that it is also the last day of the election campaign for the early presidential elections in the Bosnian Republika Srpska.

The early presidential elections in Republika Srpska were called after the former President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik’s mandate was terminated following a final court decision sentencing him to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding public office for failing to comply with the decisions of the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After replacing the prison sentence with a fine, Dodik actively joined the SNSD's election campaign.

Six candidates will compete on Sunday for the presidential post, with the leading contenders being Sinisa Karan from the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and Branko Blanusa, nominated by the opposition Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and supported by the majority of opposition parties. The other four candidates are Nikola Lazarevic, chairman of the Ecological Party of Republika Srpska, Dragan Dokanovic, nominated by the Alliance for New Politics, and two independent candidates - Slavko Dragicevic and Igor Gasevic.

November 21 is a national holiday and a non-working day in Republika Srpska because of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the interethnic war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For this reason, the last day of the election campaign seems quiet and slow, after the final rallies of the parties participating in the elections took place on Thursday. Banja Luka, however, just like the whole of Republika Srpska, is preparing for the early presidential elections this Sunday.

Almost all billboards and advertising screens show two faces - those of Karan and Dodik. On some advertising materials, the representative of the Serbs in the Bosnian Presidency, Zeljka Cvijanovic, also appears alongside them. The face of Karan’s main opponent, Branko Blanusa, is seen less frequently.

Sinisa Karan’s election campaign is not focused on his own achievements or messages, but rather on those of the party he represents, the SNSD. At all party rallies in various cities throughout Republika Srpska in recent weeks, Karan appears before supporters alongside Dodik. The party’s slogan reads “Srpska Will Win. For Karan. For Dodik.”, placing the former President at the centre of the campaign and sending a clear message that he will remain active in the political life of the country, even if not as president of Republika Srpska. Dodik has repeatedly stated to the media that these elections also serve as a referendum on support for the SNSD and for himself.

SNSD’s candidate Karan is a long-time law professor and currently serves as Minister of Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education in the government of Republika Srpska. Before that, he spent many years as Minister of the Interior. At the core of his campaign is his reputation as a “defender of the Constitution” and his support for the former president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who plays an active role in the campaign. At the final pre-election rally on Friday, Karan emphasized that his party is fighting for freedom.

His main opponent, Branko Blanusa, is a professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Banja Luka and a former dean of the faculty. The message of his campaign is that Republika Srpska needs more grounded, stable policies. His political career spans two parties - the ruling Serbian Progressive Party in Serbia and the Serb Democratic Party. In 2018, he ran for a seat in the Bosnian parliament but did not win.

Blanusa’s campaign symbolically began with a rally in front of the Parliament building of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka at the beginning of the month. His campaign slogan is “Let’s Return Srpska to the People,” and at his final campaign rally on Thursday, he stated that he is fighting for the change that the people of Republika Srpska need, the national television of Republika Srpska, RTRS, reported.

The election campaign in Republika Srpska began on November 8 and will end on Saturday at 7 am local time, when the reflection period begins.

A total of 1,264,364 voters are registered in Republika Srpska, and the organization of the elections costs Bosnia and Herzegovina EUR 3.1 million.

According to the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia (1992–1995), the country is divided into two semi-autonomous entities - Republika Srpska, inhabited predominantly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats live. Each entity has its own government, parliament, and police, but the two are connected through joint state-level institutions, including the judicial system, the army, security services, and tax administration. The Dayton Agreement also defines the role of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, who has extensive powers, including the authority to impose laws and dismiss public officials.