Bosnia on Thursday announced an election to replace the banned president of its Serb entity, who has refused to step down after defying the international envoy overseeing the postwar peace agreement.
Speaking at a news conference in Sarajevo, the head of Bosnia's electoral commission, Irena Hadziabdic, said an early presidential election for the Republika Srpska (RS) statelet would be held on Nov. 23.
It is the latest development in one of the country's worst political crises since its split from Yugoslavia triggered a war that ended 30 years ago.
Early this month, RS president Milorad Dodik was stripped of office and banned from politics for six years by a court for flouting decisions made by the international envoy.
"These elections are meaningless and will not take place in the RS," the 66-year-old leader told reporters in Banja Luka, the capital of the Serbian entity, after the announcement.
