{"id":28659,"date":"2025-11-24T03:03:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T03:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=28659"},"modified":"2025-11-24T03:03:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T03:03:02","slug":"bosnian-serbs-vote-to-replace-banned-firebrand-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=28659","title":{"rendered":"Bosnian Serbs vote to replace banned firebrand leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Polling stations closed on Sunday in Bosnia\u2019s Serb-majority entity after elections to replace its banned firebrand president, Milorad Dodik, who was removed for defying Bosnia\u2019s international peace envoy.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The conflict left the country split into two semi-autonomous halves \u2014\u00a0the Serb-run Republika Srpska (RS) and a Bosniak-Croat federation \u2014\u00a0linked by weak central institutions.<br \/>\n\u201cThese elections were organised by Bosnian Muslims and (top envoy Christian) Schmidt,\u201d Dodik said on Sunday after voting in his hometown, Laktasi. \u201cThey wanted to defeat us in Republika Srpska, and now the people have a chance to defeat them,\u201d he told reporters, stressing that Republika Srpska is \u201cabove all\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s early vote means the winner will serve for less than a year before the general election in October 2026.<\/p>\n<p>It is seen as a crucial test of support for Dodik\u2019s nationalist party, which has been in power for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n<p>Retired economist Brankica Dragojlovic voiced hope for better times, saying her pension of 350 convertible marks ($206) is barely enough to get by.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we\u2019ve had until now has been terrible&#8230; If it weren\u2019t for my son, I would have starved to death. He (Dodik) stole everything, he should be helping the poor, not taking for himself. He has enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two main favourites<br \/>\nBy 1400 GMT, four hours before the polling stations were to close, the turnout was 26 percent, Bosnia\u2019s electoral commission said. Around 1.2 million eligible voters could choose between six candidates, but there are two favourites.<\/p>\n<p>Sinisa Karan, a \u00a063-year-old former interior minister, is a close ally and personal choice of Dodik, who remains head of his party, the Union of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Polling stations closed on Sunday in Bosnia\u2019s Serb-majority entity after elections to replace its banned firebrand president, Milorad Dodik, who was removed for defying Bosnia\u2019s 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}