Sinisa Karan, the SNSD’s candidate for the presidency of Republika Srpska. Photo: BIRN.
After months of calls for a boycott of early presidential elections in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity, Milorad Dodik’s ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, has chosen a candidate to succeed Dodik, following his court conviction.
Speaking in Russia where he is for the International Forum on Global Economy and Politics, Dodik confirmed that the SNSD’s candidate for the November 23 elections will be Sinisa Karan, one of his closest allies. “We will propose this to our coalition partners, and our nominee will be the Minister for Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education of Republika Srpska, Sinisa Karan. We need to reach an agreement on that,” Dodik said.
Karan’s current ministerial position is unconstitutional, as Dodik appointed the current RS prime minister, Savo Minic, after his mandate was officially revoked. Earlier, Karan served for six years as the RS Minister of Interior. The US sanctioned him for undermining the 1995 Dayton accords, which ended Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.
Bosnia’s election regulator, the Central Election Commission, revoked Dodik’s presidential mandate on August 18 following his one-year prison sentence and six-year ban on holding the office of president of Republika Srpska.
Dodik was convicted on August 1 of defying decisions issued by Bosnia’s international overseer, the High Representative, Christian Schmidt, in July 2023. Schmidt had blocked implementation of two laws adopted by the Republika Srpska authorities – one preventing enforcement of state-level Constitutional Court rulings in the entity, and another amending legislation on publishing official acts. Despite this, Dodik continued legislative procedures in defiance of Schmidt’s decisions.
Despite rejecting the court verdict, Dodik used his legal right to exchange his prison sentence for a fine of 36,500 Bosnian marks, or some 18,600 euros. By choosing a successor, Dodik has also finally acknowledged the verdict – and the fact that for six years he will no longer hold any public office in the country.