Bosnian Serbs will head to the polls on Sunday to pick a replacement for their entity’s banned president, Milorad Dodik, after he was removed for defying Bosnia’s international peace envoy.
Dodik was ejected from office in August following his conviction for ignoring rulings by the international appointee who oversees a peace deal which has held Bosnia together since the end of its 1990s inter-ethnic war.
The early vote in the Republika Srpska (RS) — one of Bosnia’s two semi-autonomous entities alongside a Bosniak-Croat federation — means the winner will serve for less than a year before general elections in October 2026.
It is seen as a crucial test of support for Dodik’s nationalist party, which has been in power for nearly two decades.
Around 1.2 million eligible voters can choose between six candidates, but there are two main favorites.
