At 7:00 p.m., 136 polling stations in 17 cities and municipalities, where early elections for the President of Republika Srpska (RS) were repeated today, were closed, based on the decision of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK), which established numerous electoral irregularities at these polling stations in the elections held on November 23 last year.
The largest number of polling stations where repeat elections were held are located in Doboj, Zvornik, Laktaši and Bratunac.
The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina previously announced that by 3:00 p.m., 32.427 voters, or 38,39 percent, had gone to the polls, which is a significantly higher turnout than in the elections held on November 23.
Throughout the day, information was received from the field about numerous irregularities in the electoral process, such as vote buying, pressure on voters, persuasion to vote for a particular candidate, organized transportation of voters, indications of politically connected presidents of polling stations, as well as irregularities related to the provision of assistance to voters, which violate the secrecy and freedom of voting.
These irregularities were mainly reported on throughout the day by opposition media in the RS, as well as by the non-governmental Coalition "Under the Spotlight", which had its observers at around a hundred polling stations.
On the other hand, Radio Television of Republika Srpska (RTRS), which is under strong government influence, published information according to which senior officials of the opposition Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) attempted to influence the electoral will of citizens at certain polling stations.
The RS Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a statement earlier today about a number of incidents, including verbal and physical clashes between supporters of the government and the opposition.
The Central Election Commission of BiH is scheduled to announce the results of today's repeat elections tonight at around 9:00 PM.
Early presidential elections in RS were held on November 23, after the CEC stripped Milorad Dodik of his presidential mandate, who was sentenced by the Court of BiH to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding public office for failing to implement decisions of the High Representative in BiH.
A few days ago, the CEC announced results according to which, when votes from polling stations where the elections were annulled are subtracted, opposition candidate Branko Blanuša (SDS) has a 5.700-vote lead over the candidate of the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Siniša Karan.
Bonus video:
