It is reported that in Bosnia, the pro-Putin politician Dodik is still the biggest winner

Milorad Dodik waves to a crowd protesting a recount in early October.  AP . image

Milorad Dodik waves to a crowd protesting a recount in early October.AP . image

In the elections held 26 days ago, Zelica Svijanovic, Dodik’s right-hand man, was also elected as one of the three presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina – a rotating position. The result offers little hope of Bosnia’s stability and orientation toward the West, precisely in the same month that the European Commission left the country. Nominate as candidate country.

The opposition and its supporters in the Republic of Serbia, Republika Srpska, did not accept the outcome at first. I’m gone for a few days Tens of thousands of protesters In the streets of Banja Luka, the capital of Republika Srpska. Opposition parties accused Dodik of fraud and other electoral irregularities. The main competitor, Jelena Trevik, for example, did not get any votes in her native village, according to the official statistics.

No new elections were held, as some opposition parties demanded, but the votes were recounted. And the Bosnian Election Commission acknowledged, Thursday evening, the discovery of some irregularities, but it did not materially affect the result. The result stands. Trevik said day Facebook Not accepting the decision of the Electoral Commission and announcing the continuation of its struggle.

secretion

Bosnia and Herzegovina has one of the most complex democracies in the world. Roughly speaking, this means that every ethnic group in the country, Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, elects its own president. Thus, the presidency of the country consists of three members, who are rotating heads of state. In addition, the residents of Republika Srpska also elect their own president who is located in the Presidential Palace in Banja Luka.

Before the elections, Dodik changed his positions with his party colleague Zeljka Chvijanovic. He was one of the three presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but he ran for the presidential elections in Republika Srpska. Svijanovic, the pre-election president of Republika Srpska, was in turn one of the three Bosnian presidents, on behalf of ethnic Serbs.

The election of Dodik and his right-hand man is good news for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In recent years, Russia has tried to increase its influence in the Western Balkans, but that largely ended after the invasion of Ukraine. With the exception of Bosnia and neighboring Serbia, all Balkan countries participate in EU sanctions against Russia.

European Union membership is far away

With Dodik in the saddle, Bosnia will remain a rift: the nationalist is a master at Putin and has previously supported a mock referendum that Russia has legalized the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian provinces. Dodik has repeatedly stated that he wants to force secession from Republika Srpska.

It takes Bosnia away from EU membership, despite the candidate status the European Commission wants to give the country. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visits the Western Balkans in preparation for the EU Balkan Summit in the Albanian capital Tirana in early December. It is still unknown if she will also visit Bosnia.

On the other hand, Bosniaks chose a pro-European president over the current nationalist in the elections with Denis Becirovic. Croats re-elected pro-European reformist Zeljko Komsic.

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