The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK BiH) adopted a decision at a session in Sarajevo to revoke the mandate of the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, following the confirmation of a final verdict by the Court of BiH.
The decision to revoke the mandate was adopted unanimously.
The Court of BiH has sentenced Dodik to one year in prison and a ban on holding this and other political positions in the country for the next six years, for failing to comply with the decisions of the High Representative in BiH.
The mandate will be revoked after the appeal deadline has expired.
The appeal shall be submitted to the Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina within two days of receiving the decision through the CEC of BiH, in accordance with the Election Law of BiH.
After that, early elections for the president of the Republika Srpska entity are expected to be called within 90 days.
Regular general elections are planned for October 2026.
According to the BiH Election Law, the mandate of an elected official ends "on the date of the finality of the court verdict sentencing him to a prison sentence of six months or longer."
According to the ruling of the Court of BiH, Dodik will not be eligible to run for any political office until the six-year ban expires.
Milorad Dodik previously stated that he would not step down from the position of President of the RS despite the final verdict.
Dodik, as well as his party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), rejected the verdict and called on the opposition to form a "government of national unity" in RS, as well as to work together in the institutions of BiH until the status of RS is returned to "guaranteed constitutional frameworks."
Dodik's defense announced an appeal to the Constitutional Court of BiH, in an attempt to challenge the verdict.
The RS Government also announced that they do not accept the second-instance verdict of the Court of BiH.
They assessed the verdict as "legally null and void, unconstitutional and politically motivated."
A series of conclusions reached at a special session in Banja Luka on Tuesday, August 5, among other things, emphasize that "the unconstitutional Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH conducted a politically rigged trial against the president," who, it is alleged, acted solely in accordance with his constitutional and legal powers.
Dodik was found guilty of signing a decree promulgating a law that the High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, had previously annulled.
With these laws, the legislative bodies in the RS attempted to prevent the implementation of decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH and the High Representative on the territory of this Bosnian and Herzegovina entity.
The co-defendant in the case, the acting director of the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia Miloš Lukić, was finally acquitted of the charges.
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