Thewesternbalkans.
Sinisa Karan is the new president of Republika Srpska. He is considered a confidant of Bosnian Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik.
Sinisa Karan, the candidate of the ruling SNSD party, won with just under 51 percent, according to the Central Election Commission in Sarajevo. With 200,116 votes, he beat the opposition candidate Branko Blanuša of the Serbian Democratic Party, who received 188,010 votes (47.8 percent).
Sinisa Karan’s victory was not so glamorous, as the voter turnout was extremely low – below 36 percent. About 1.2 million people were eligible to vote on Sunday. Karan will be in office for less than a year, as regular parliamentary and presidential elections in Bosnia are scheduled for October 2026.
After the election, Karan thanked his voters and his political mentor Dodik: “When it was most difficult, the Serbian people won. (…) Big thanks to Milorad Dodik and all the deputies who defended Republika Srpska.” Opposition presidential candidate Branko Blanuša blamed election manipulation for his defeat. His party has demanded a repeat of the vote in three cities where election fraud was alleged. However, there is currently no evidence to support these claims.
Commentary: The RS elections formally confirmed Dodik’s course for a while. His departure from the presidency was a strategic move, not a capitulation. Dodik is still the chairman of the ruling SNSD party and sees Karan’s success as a victory over the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e. the federation, run by Bosniaks and Croats, and Christian Schmidt, Bosnia’s international high representative.
The record-low voter turnout showed that the public was unprepared for a sudden campaign. The elections took most residents by surprise, as the vote was not due until 2026. The elections were imposed from outside and were held in conditions of public unpreparedness.
