The Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has rejected the appeal of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) against the decision of the Central Election Commission of BiH (CIK) to annul the results of the early elections for the president of Republika Srpska (RS) at 136 polling stations in 17 municipalities and cities in this BiH entity, Sarajevo media reported tonight.
The court also rejected an appeal by the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) to repeat the elections at all polling stations in three cities – Doboj, Zvornik and Laktaši.
The CEC is reportedly expected to make a decision on the date of the repeat elections at these 136 polling stations tomorrow.
Opposition candidate Branko Blanuša (SDS) enters the new race with a lead of 6.245 votes, given that SNSD candidate Siniša Karan had a large advantage in most polling stations where the elections were annulled.
The elections were annulled due to numerous irregularities, including a number of voters voting without valid documents, and during the counting, votes were taken away from Blanusa and added to Karan.
Early presidential elections in RS were held on November 23, after the CEC stripped Dodik of his mandate as President of RS in early August, based on a final verdict of the Court of BiH, which sentenced him to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding public office for failing to implement the decisions of the High Representative in BiH.
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