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Bosnia’s electoral commission on Wednesday annulled results at 136 polling stations in the November snap election held to choose a successor to the banned president of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska, citing widespread irregularities that officials said may have affected the outcome.
The head of the Central Electoral Commission said the scale of the violations could have been sufficient to influence the final result of the Nov. 23 vote.
In the election, the candidate backed by longtime Serb leader Milorad Dodik, Sinisa Karan, won 50.4% of the vote, while opposition-backed rival Branko Blanusa received 48.2%. Fewer than 10,000 votes separated the two candidates out of roughly 450,000 ballots cast.
The opposition has alleged fraud by the ruling coalition in Republika Srpska, arguing that irregularities may have swung the election.
CIK rapporteur Miso Krstovic said “numerous irregularities were found in these early elections,” adding that annulling results at certain polling stations was necessary “to protect the integrity of the electoral process.”
CIK President Jovan Kalaba said an analysis showed the violations “may have influenced the outcome.”
The commission’s decision is not final. Parties have two days to challenge it in court. If upheld, the electoral body would be required to call repeat voting at the affected polling stations.
Dodik, who continues to lead the ruling SNSD party, condemned the decision.
“CIK is undermining confidence in the electoral system in Bosnia. They have decided to mock and humiliate voters,” he told reporters.
By contrast, Blanusa’s opposition SDS party welcomed the move, saying it protected “the electoral will of the citizens.”
Turnout in the November vote was below 36%.
The election was called after Dodik, who had dominated Republika Srpska politics for nearly two decades, was removed from office in August following a conviction for defying rulings by Christian Schmidt, the international official overseeing the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Dodik, 66, was banned from holding public office for six years.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been divided since the 1990s war into two semi-autonomous entities, Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, linked by a weak central government. While Bosniak leaders have long pushed for stronger state institutions, many Bosnian Serbs oppose further integration.
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