Dodik Claims SNSD Victory, Thanks Trump and Putin

Milorad Dodik declared victory for his party in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general elections on Sunday evening, October 4, speaking from the SNSD election headquarters in Banja Luka. Among those he thanked was Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. The victory and the thanks to Belgrade matter for Serbia too: according to Obrad Kesic, head of the BiH Mission to the European Union, Republika Srpska is preparing to keep leaning on Washington, Moscow and Belgrade in its foreign policy.

By RTS’s count, with 91 percent of polling stations processed, Zeljka Cvijanovic won the race for the Serb member of the BiH Presidency and Savo Minic the race for president of Republika Srpska. Danas reports that Cvijanovic leads with 55.14 percent of the vote, ahead of Marinko Bozovic and Nebojsa Vukanovic. The figures are preliminary.

What did Dodik say at the election headquarters?

The speech began without numbers. According to tportal, Dodik opened with the line: “I won’t be announcing numbers to you, you can see them on the screen.” He then declared victory in both of the most important races:

“Thank you for a great victory. I declare that we won for the member of the Presidency and for the president of RS.”

The figures came from N1 rather than from Dodik. That outlet reports that the SNSD won 40.95 percent of the vote in Republika Srpska and will hold the most seats in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament and in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. That is the outlet’s own assessment, not a statement by Dodik.

The line about America drew the most attention:

“If it hadn’t been for Trump’s magnificent victory, we would probably be political corpses today, but thanks to the new environment, we are now political winners.”

He also thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vucic, and compared the result with the one from twenty years ago. He ended with a line carried by tportal: “I can’t believe we pulled all this off.”

The sources differ on one figure. According to N1, Dodik said more than 120,000 people had passed through SNSD rallies, while tportal records him mentioning more than 20,000. Since it is not clear which number is correct, both are given here.

Cvijanovic also spoke from the headquarters: “This is a great victory for the SNSD, with President Milorad Dodik at its head.”

Why did Dodik sing after the election?

The celebration moved to social media. Dodik posted a video of himself singing “Four Years” by Lepa Brena, while a second clip plays the song “Nobody Can Do Anything to Us.” He captioned the clips: “This is how we celebrate our great victory. The victory of Republika Srpska.”

Who else offered congratulations, and what does the analysis say?

Viktor Orban, Hungary’s former prime minister, was among the first to respond, on X:

“Grand slam! Congratulations to President Milorad Dodik and all our friends from the SNSD, especially President Cvijanovic and President Minic, on the convincing victory in the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. A strong mandate to continue the fight for the interests and rights of Republika Srpska.”

Orban lost Hungary’s parliamentary elections on April 12 of this year after 16 years in power. He hosted Dodik in Budapest in August 2025, after the final verdict that barred Dodik from holding political office. N1 info from Sarajevo also recalls that Reuters reported last year on Budapest’s commitment to help finance infrastructure and energy projects in Republika Srpska worth 140 million euros.

A message also came from across the Atlantic, from Brad Parscale, digital media director of Trump’s 2016 campaign and manager of his 2020 campaign. On X on October 4 he wrote: “Christians, Orthodox Serbs of Republika Srpska have raised their voice again, with God’s help.” According to Danas, the rest of the message is about democracy and about something happening beneath the surface “from the Balkans to South America.”

In his analysis of the results, Kesic judges that voters gave a mandate to continue the existing policy. On foreign policy he says:

“Republika Srpska has opened the doors wide in Washington, Tel Aviv and Moscow and has shown that close and useful relations with Moscow do not have to harm relations with the American administration.”

Kesic adds that there is a large majority in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, possibly a two-thirds one, but that the count of all votes should be awaited. By his account, Dodik also announced that Republika Srpska will remain a loyal pillar of support for Serbia, from diplomacy to economic cooperation.

Before the polls closed, Dodik voted in Laktasi, as we reported, and attacked the new election devices. Final results will be known once all votes are counted.