Elections for president of Bosnia’s Serb-led entity, Republika Srpska (RS), will be repeated on Sunday at 136 polling stations across several towns, after electoral authorities uncovered serious irregularities during voting held in November, officials said.
The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEC) annulled the results of the snap presidential election held on Nov. 23, 2025, and ordered repeat voting at polling stations in 17 constituencies, citing widespread abuses that could have affected the outcome.
Polling stations will open at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Feb. 8, with 84,474 registered voters eligible to cast ballots, the CEC said. An election silence period begins 24 hours before voting starts.
The repeat vote will take place in the cities and municipalities of Prijedor, Laktaši, Banja Luka, Doboj, Stanari, Lopare, Ugljevik, Osmaci, Zvornik, Vlasenica, Bratunac, Nevesinje, Gacko, Rudo, Bileća, Milići, as well as at one polling station in the Brčko District.
The CEC said investigations, carried out together with non-governmental election monitoring organisations, identified voting without valid identification, forged signatures, manipulation of voter registers and the misallocation of votes among candidates.
The irregularities were deemed significant enough to influence the final result, with the margin between the leading candidates estimated at around 9,500 votes, while more than 15,800 ballots were flagged as disputed.
Six candidates are contesting the repeated vote, including Dragan Đokanović, Branko Blanuša, Siniša Karan, Nikola Lazarević, Igor Gašević and Slavko Dragičević, according to the election commission.
Nearly 4,900 domestic and international observers have been accredited to monitor the repeat elections. They include an eight-member delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, as well as nine observers accredited at the request of the Russian embassy in Bosnia, the CEC said.
The snap election was triggered after former RS president Milorad Dodik was stripped of his mandate following a final court ruling that found him guilty of defying decisions by Bosnia’s international High Representative.
Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison, which he converted into a fine of about 18,000 euros, and was barred from holding public office for six years.