Bosnian Serb strongman, pro-Russian nationalist Milorad Dodik, has won the presidency of the divided country’s Serbian entity, the Electoral Commission announced on Thursday (October 27th) after a recount prompted by accusations opposition fraud.
“The control count confirmed (…) that the candidate Milorad Dodik, representing the Serbian people, and who was in the lead (…), remained in the lead, with the highest number of votes wonsaid Suad Arnautovic, chairman of the Central Election Commission. This had ordered a new count on October 10 at a time when the almost complete preliminary results granted 48% of the vote to Milorad Dodik, against 43% for the opposition candidate Jelena Trivic.
“Organized looting of the elections”
This election was among the many polls organized on October 2 at the central level and the two entities of the country divided along ethnic lines, the Republika Srpska (RS) and the Croat-Muslim entity. Bosnia has been governed since the end of the intercommunal war in 1995 by a complex and often paralyzing political system inherited from the Dayton Peace Accords. The day after the election, the opposition parties in the RS had shouted “fraud“.
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They accused Milorad Dodik and his party of “organized looting of elections“, assertions rejected en bloc by the person concerned who declared himself the winner of the ballot. Milorad Dodik, who has dominated the Bosnian Serb political scene for more than 15 years, is being hit with American and British sanctions after he has multiplied separatist threats in recent months by calling Bosnia a “impossible“.
“I’m not going anywhere”
This massive 63-year-old colossus had gathered several tens of thousands of his supporters on Tuesday evening in Banja Luka, capital of the Serbian entity in Bosnia, a show of force in view of a possible cancellation of the ballot. He assured that he would not leavenowhere» and that it would be «very soon at the presidential palace“. “As long as the people say I have to be there, I’ll be there and I’m never gonna try to be there against the will of the people.“, he had launched.
He accuses the opposition oftreason” and also the Westerners and in particular “the british embassyin Bosnia for havingmeleeof the electoral process. “It is obvious that this is a systematic attack against the Republika Srpska (…) and against the will of the citizens (…) with the aim of removing Milorad Dodik from the electoral process“, according to his adviser Radovan Kovacevic.
“Failed Country”
The Electoral Commission said it would announce the figures resulting from the new count in the coming hours. Milorad Dodik, the outgoing Serbian representative of Bosnia’s tripartite collegiate presidency, spoke during his four years in office on a “failed country» which inspires him the «contempt“.
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The main Serb (Orthodox), Bosnian (Muslim) and Croat (Catholic) ethno-nationalist parties, including Milorad Dodik’s SNSD, emerged victorious in the general elections. The election was also marked by the defeat in the race for the collegial presidency of Bakir Izetbegovic, president of the main Bosnian nationalist party (SDA) and son of the first president of independent Bosnia, Alija Izetbegovic. The party, on the other hand, came out on top in the other polls.