Srpska Election: Minic Leads Blanusa by 56,137 Votes

The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK BiH) published a new snapshot of preliminary results from the General Elections this morning, October 6, at about 7:15 a.m. For the first time, it also shows the distribution of votes by party for the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. For Serbia, the count is a gauge of the political picture in the entity it is most closely tied to, so the results from Banja Luka are followed in Belgrade as well. The figures are preliminary and do not include mail-in votes or votes cast at diplomatic and consular missions.

How many votes does Minic have in the race for president of Republika Srpska?

SNSD candidate Savo Minic has won 278,954 votes in this snapshot, or 52.26 percent. His opponent from the SDS, Branko Blanusa, has 222,817 votes, or 41.74 percent, which puts the gap at 56,137 votes. In the earlier snapshot, which we have already reported on, the lead was 54,185 votes, so it has grown by 1,952.

In this race there are 533,736 valid ballots, 19,477 blank invalid ballots and 7,086 invalid for other reasons. About 95 percent of polling stations have been counted. According to figures carried by the FENA news agency, results have arrived from 1,983 of 2,082 polling stations in Republika Srpska, or 95.24 percent. That leaves 99 stations, or 4.76 percent.

How do the parties stand in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska?

For the National Assembly, with 95.48 percent of polling stations counted, SNSD has 198,633 votes. PSS is second with 71,638 votes, or 14.08 percent, so the gap between the two lists is 126,995 votes. The SDS - Volja naroda list is third with 61,483 votes, or 12.08 percent, and DNS-NPS is fourth with 28,303 votes, or 5.56 percent.

Below that sits a group of smaller lists. The gap between the Socialist Party and United Srpska is 747 votes, and between SPS and the Justice and Order List just 37:

• Socialist Party of Petar Djokic: 27,674 votes
• United Srpska: 26,927 votes
• SPS - Goran Slak: 23,447 votes
• Justice and Order List of Nebojsa Vukanovic: 23,410 votes

For the National Assembly there are 509,115 valid ballots, and 51,401 invalid ballots in total on all grounds.

What do the figures show for the Serb member of the BiH Presidency?

Zeljka Cvijanovic of the SNSD leads the race for the Serb member of the BiH Presidency, but sources working from nearby snapshots give different figures. According to FENA, carried by N1 BiH, Cvijanovic has 294,813 votes, or 55.50 percent, while Marinko Bozovic of the SDS is second with 140,463 votes, or 26.44 percent. N1 BiH puts her lead at 154,350 votes, and RTRS gives 154,544 in its own report.

Nebojsa Vukanovic is third with about 95,900 votes: RTRS reports 95,919 and N1 BiH 95,883, which is 18.05 percent. According to N1 BiH, 559,332 ballots have been processed, of which 531,159 are valid, while for the same race RTRS reports 531,529 valid ballots and 23,360 blank invalid ones. The two sources do not match to the last digit, but the order of the candidates is the same.

The results remain preliminary, and CIK BiH will keep updating the data as records arrive from the remaining polling stations, along with mail-in votes and votes from abroad.