site.btaSinisa Karan Claims Win in Republika Srpska's Snap Presidential Election, Vote Count Challenged

The candidate of the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Sinisa Karan, won Sunday's snap presidential election in Bosnia's Republika Srpska, according to official preliminary data from the Bosnian Central Election Commission (CEC).

With votes counted from 92.79% of polling stations in Republika Srpska, Karan received 200,116 votes, or 50.89%. His opponent from the opposition Serb Democratic Party (SDS), Branko Blanusa, received 188,010 votes, or 47.81%.

The SDS stated that it does not recognize Karan's victory and demanded a re-run of the vote in three towns: Doboj, Zvornik and Laktasi.

Earlier on Sunday evening, the SNSD leader and former president Milorad Dodik declared Karan's victory, saying that he had received a total of 215,226 votes, while his opponent Blanusa had received 205,212 votes.

Bosnian Serbs voted in a snap presidential election in Republika Srpska, which was called after the mandate of former president Milorad Dodik was terminated following a final court ruling sentencing him to one year in prison and banning him from political activity for six years for failing to comply with decisions of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt.

Under the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia (1992-1995), the country is divided into two semi-autonomous entities: Republika Srpska, populated mainly 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 linked through state-level institutions, including the judiciary, armed forces, security services and tax administration. The Dayton Agreement also sets out the role of the High Representative of the international community, who has broad powers, including the authority to impose laws and dismiss officials.