Republika Srpska: Minic Leads Blanusa by 54,185 Votes
With 93.37 percent of polling stations counted, the SNSD candidate has 52.16 percent and the SDS candidate 41.80. SNSD also leads the Assembly race with about 39 percent.
Savo Minic leads Branko Blanusa by 54,185 votes in the race for president of Republika Srpska, according to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK BiH) covering 1,994 polling stations, or 93.37 percent. Minic, the SNSD candidate, has 272,836 votes, or 52.16 percent, while Blanusa, the SDS candidate, has 218,651 votes, or 41.80 percent.
That count includes 523,054 valid ballots, 19,107 blank invalid ballots and 6,954 ballots invalidated on other grounds.
How much did the gap change overnight?
An earlier count, reported by RTS on Sunday evening, put Minic at 269,290 votes and Blanusa at 216,867, a gap of 52,423. By the latest count it had grown by 1,762. The other candidates for president of Republika Srpska had the following in the earlier count:
- Ramiz Salkic, 9,019 votes
- Camil Durakovic, 5,886
- Ivan Begic, 2,579
- Igor Balukcic, 2,227
This was the first election held with biometric voter identification, ballot scanners and electronic transmission of results, and RTS reported that problems appeared right at the start of voting. We covered the objections to the new devices earlier, when Milorad Dodik voted in Laktasi and criticized their use.
What does the National Assembly of Republika Srpska look like?
With almost 87 percent of the ballots for the National Assembly counted, N1 published the following order:
- SNSD, 38.93 percent
- Drasko Stanivukovic’s Sigurna Srpska Movement, 14.19
- SDS, 12.27
- Democratic People’s Alliance and People’s Party of Srpska, 5.51
- Socialist Party of Petar Djokic with Demos and NDP, 5.45
- United Srpska, 5.26
- Socialist Party of Srpska, 4.62
- For Justice and Order list (Nebojsa Vukanovic, PDP, Igor Crnadak), 4.59
In its second count RTS gave slightly different shares: SNSD 38.85, Sigurna Srpska Movement 14.12 and SDS 12.18 percent. For the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, RTS shows SNSD at 40.91 percent in Republika Srpska, the Sigurna Srpska Movement at 15.10, SDS at 13.13 and the For Justice and Order list at 5.86.
The electoral threshold is three percent. “Coalition for the State,” which brings together the pro-Bosniak political bloc, has 2.76 percent so far and is below the threshold, but N1 reports that this could change once diaspora votes are counted.
What do the winner and the opposition say?
On election night in Banja Luka, Minic said:
“We went before the people, we are delivering stability, and we will keep doing so. I want to be president to all citizens of Republika Srpska. I take that as a responsibility. I am glad about this SNSD result”
He added that Republika Srpska will be among the first in BiH to form a new government: “We will keep delivering stability.” SNSD president Dodik declared victory at every level and said: “This result is similar to the one 20 years ago.”
Drasko Stanivukovic, president of the Sigurna Srpska Movement, said his party will not enter a coalition with SNSD. Speaking to reporters at his campaign headquarters in Banja Luka, he said:
“SNSD will form the Government of Srpska, but we will be a strong opposition and we will fight for our programs and platforms. We will defeat them sooner or later and bring positive change for the people in Srpska”
Asked about his earlier promise to become prime minister, Stanivukovic answered that this will not happen after all.
Why did the opposition fail to use the split vote?
Journalist and analyst Gordana Katana told N1 BiH that “the opposition was its own worst enemy.” As a measure, she cited the fact that SDS and PDP together won more than 30,000 votes fewer than SNSD alone. In her words, the opposition, both during the campaign and before it, “looked to Belgrade, looked to Vucic,” which proved completely unproductive.
The results remain preliminary. Turnout in Republika Srpska by 5 p.m. was 37.28 percent, and in an earlier count with more than 90 percent of polling stations processed, RTS reported that Zeljka Cvijanovic, with 284,934 votes, leads the race for the Serb member of the BiH Presidency, ahead of Marinko Bozovic with 136,799 and Nebojsa Vukanovic with 93,389.
