SDS close to final decision: Branko Blanuša opposition candidate for President of Republika Srpska

(Patria) - Branko Blanuša has the best chances to be the opposition candidate for President of Republika Srpska, Istraga.ba learns.

The Main Board of the Serbian Democratic Party should declare on his candidacy on Sunday. Blanuša, for now, has the support of the majority of Main Board members, but a final decision has not yet been made.

Blanuša is a professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Banja Luka. In the 2018 General Elections, Blanuša was the SDS candidate for a representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the 2022 elections, a candidate for the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. Blanuša should be supported by all opposition parties except the PDP, whose president Draško Stanivuković advocates for a story about boycotting the elections.

At the same time, the ruling SNSD has not yet decided who their candidate will be. According to information from Istraga, Milorad Dodik has abandoned the idea of his son Igor Dodik being the candidate. Thus, two names remain in circulation within the SNSD – Siniša Karan and Ranko Škrbić. Karan is a former Minister of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska who, in the new, unconstitutional Government of Republika Srpska, serves as Minister for Scientific-Technological Development and Higher Education. Ranko Škrbić is a former Minister of Health of Republika Srpska who is close to the Dodik family.

SNSD leader Milorad Dodik, we recall, has requested from the Central Election Commission the creation of an access code, which is a prerequisite for applying to participate in the early elections for the President of Republika Srpska.

The early elections will be held on November 23 this year. From September 25 to September 29, political parties can apply for the early elections for the President of Republika Srpska from among the Serbian people. Coalition applications will be possible on October 6 and 7, and presidential candidates have a deadline from October 10 to 14. The pre-election campaign will run from November 8 to 22.

Republika Srpska has been without a president since August 18 this year, when the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the decision of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to revoke Milorad Dodik's presidential mandate. The mandate was revoked because Dodik was finally convicted for disregarding the decisions of the Office of the High Representative. In addition to a year in prison, he is banned from holding the office of President of Republika Srpska, as well as all other positions that are partially or fully financed from the budget for a period of six years. It remains unclear whether Dodik can be the president of the SNSD.

The Central Election Commission called the early elections on August 25. In the meantime, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska adopted a conclusion on September 24 calling on political parties in that entity to independently decide whether to participate in the early elections for the president. This amended the conclusions adopted at the session on August 22, which called on Dodik to continue performing the presidential function and which rejected the possibility of holding early elections called by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.