EditSerb separatist leader stripped of office by Bosnia election commission
The broader implications of this crisis lie in its potential to unravel the foundations of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s election commission on Wednesday (6 August) removed the separatist Bosnian Serb president from office after an appeals court upheld a verdict jailing him for a year and banning him from political activity for six years.
The commission’s decision against Milorad Dodik, who immediately rejected it, would take effect after an appeal period expires. An early election for president of post-war Bosnia’s autonomous Serb region would then be called within 90 days, commission member Suad Arnautovic told reporters.
The Russian-backed Dodik previously dismissed his conviction and sentencing in February by a Bosnian state court to a year in jail and six-year ban from politics. He said he would stay in post as long as Bosnian Serb lawmakers backed him and vowed to seek help from both Moscow and U.S. President Donald Trump.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Dodik said the commission’s decision was unacceptable because it violated the Serb Republic constitution and he announced a referendum on whether he should leave office or not.
“If I accept their decision, I accept to violate the constitution and let down the Serb people,” said Dodik, who blamed Bosnia’s post-war international peace overseer Christian Schmidt and “Muslims” (Bosniaks) for the verdict.
Nationalist Serb Republic (RS) officials do not recognise Schmidt, a former German government minister, as High Representative in Bosnia, saying his appointment was not endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.
No surrender, Dodik says
The RS government also dismissed the sentence and political ban, and Dodik’s SNSD party invited the opposition to join it in the formation of a national unity government.
“Surrender is not an option,” Dodik, who was re-elected in 2022, said on his X profile after the electoral commission’s decision.
It was unclear whether his legal team would appeal against the commission’s decision. Instead, he announced that he would call a referendum in Republika Srpska on whether he should remain in office.
Dodik specifically announced that a referendum could be held in this entity in the future, which the National Assembly of Republika Srpska will vote on at its session on Friday.
“The mandate was given to me by the people, so I will listen to them in the referendum that will be held in the coming period and that will decide about me,” said Dodik.
Leaders of Serbia, Russia and Hungary – who all back Dodik – also dismissed the jail term and ban, saying they were politically motivated. Hungary’s recent hosting of Dodik by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán signaling Budapest’s continued role as a haven for controversial figures, as evidenced by its prior asylum grant to North Macedonia’s Nikola Gruevski.
Orbán, who has the warmest ties of any EU leader with Russian President Vladimir Putin and is a critic of European Union sanctions on Russia, on Tuesday posted two photos with Dodik on his Facebook page.
“Milorad Dodik, President of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia, is in Budapest. President Dodik has been condemned for refusing to dance to the tune that Brussels is whistling. Hungary does not accept this decision,” he said.
Dodik, who has long advocated RS secession from Bosnia, was sentenced for defying decisions of the Constitutional Court and High Representative Schmidt, whose mandate is to prevent multi-ethnic Bosnia sliding back into civil war.
Dodik has seen through the passage of separatist laws in the RS parliament that were later temporarily suspended by the Constitutional Court. He also ignored a summons by state prosecutors, who then issued an arrest warrant for him.
Bosnia is now suffering its worst political crisis since the 1992-95 war, which killed around 100,000 people. The 1995 Dayton peace treaty divided Bosnia into autonomous Serb and Bosniak-Croat federal entities with a weak central government.
The broader implications of this crisis lie in its potential to unravel the Dayton framework. Dodik’s external alliances, particularly with Moscow and Washington’s incoming Trump administration, which he has publicly invoked for support, add a geopolitical dimension, positioning Bosnia as a flashpoint in the contest between Western oversight and Russian influence.
The crisis not only tests Bosnia’s institutional resilience but also underscores the challenges of enforcing accountability in a divided state where ethnic loyalties and external patronage undermine centralized governance.
With Reuters and Siol.net, edited by g.g.
More Bosnia and Herzegovina coverage here.
Caption: President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik greets supporters in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 26 February 2025 (re-issued 6 August 2025). The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK BiH) removed Milorad Dodik from his position as president of Republika Srpska on 06 August 2025. This decision followed an appeals court verdict that sentenced Milorad Dodik to one year in prison and a six-year ban on all political activities. The CIK decision is not yet final. EPA/NIDAL SALJIC
Updated: August 7, 2025 - 06:51
