Скачать или смотреть Candidates vote in poll to choose president after Bosnian Serb leader Dodik was removed from office

(23 Nov 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banja Luka and Laktasi, Bosnia & Herzegovina - 23 November 2025 
1.⁠ ⁠Opposition candidate Branko Blanusa entering polling station
2.⁠ ⁠Close of Blanusa signing papers
3.⁠ ⁠Blanusa seated
4.⁠ ⁠Blanusa putting vote in ballot box
5.⁠ ⁠SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Branko Blanusa, opposition candidate:
“I expect election day will pass in a democratic atmosphere. I hope the election will of the people of Republika Srpska will indeed be transpired into the result of the election. I wish to call upon all people in Republika Srpska to come out and vote for a candidate which they believe is the best, the one (candidate) who will represent the interests of the citizens in best possible manner. Thank you.”
6.⁠ ⁠Ruling party SNSD candidate, Sinisa Karan entering polling station
7.⁠ ⁠Karan signing in
8. Karan voting
9.⁠ ⁠SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Sinisa Karan, ruling party SNSD candidate for president:
"This is certainly the way we want to strengthen peace and stability here. In this democratic, constitutional, legal way - we are strengthening the institutions of Republika Srpska. With this, we strengthen our Republika Srpska which needs to remain peaceful and quiet for all of our citizens. We aim to offer progress and prosperity of Republika Srpska, all of its citizens who live there. So, these democratic elections are exactly that strength.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Laktasi, Bosnia & Herzegovina - 23 November 2025
10.⁠ ⁠Former president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik voting
11.⁠ ⁠SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Milorad Dodik, former president of Republika Srpska:
“The efforts of the central election commission and the courts are shameful but it all led to this day today - when people will show their dignity.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina - 23 November 2025
12.⁠ ⁠Serb member of Bosnian presidency, Zeljka Cvijanovic voting
13.⁠ ⁠SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Zeljka Cvijanovic, Serb member of Bosnian presidency:
“The word of the people has to be strong and dominant. It has to send a strong message on what Republika Srpska really is. It has to send a message that Republika Srpska is not something that was made temporary, it was made to stay. In order to remain as it is, it has to be the strong will of the people to be shown today, and there needs to be strong institutions to defend the will of the people.”
14.⁠ ⁠Polling station
STORYLINE:
Voters in the Serb-run part of Bosnia cast ballots on Sunday to elect a new president after former pro-Russian leader Milorad Dodik was removed from office over separatist policies that were stoking instability in the ethnically tense Balkan nation.

Dodik was ousted in August when a Bosnian court convicted him of disobeying the orders of the international High Representative for Bosnia, sentenced him to a year in prison and banned him from holding any public office. He has since paid a fine to stay away from jail and stepped aside as president while staying at the helm of his governing Party of Independent Social Democrats.

Sunday’s snap ballot pits Sinisa Karan, who is backed by Dodik, against Branko Blanusa, a university professor who is a candidate of the opposition Serb Democratic Party. Four more contenders are in the race but they are not considered strong candidates.

Bosnian Serbs are in charge of about one-half of Bosnia, which is called Republika Srpska. The other half is run jointly by Bosniaks, who are mainly Muslims, and Croats. The two entities are bound together by a central administration.




Dodik has actively taken part in Karan’s election campaign.

AP Video by Pero Pavlovic



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