Belgrade, 9 February 2026 (dpa/MIA) - A partial repeat of the presidential election in the Serbian part of Bosnia-Herzegovina on Sunday left the original result unchanged, with governing candidate Siniša Karan declaring victory.

Around 6% of polling stations in the Republika Srpska were called to vote again after irregularities were discovered from the election on November 23, 2025.

According to information released by the election commission late on Sunday, Karan received a total of 224,384 votes to Blanusa's 213,513, taking into account the results of the partial re-run.

Earlier on Sunday Karan's opponent, Branko Blanuša, admitted defeat after observers from both parties counted votes in the affected polling stations.

The electoral commission had ordered the election to be repeated in 136 of 2,200 polling stations in the territory after suspicions emerged of voter fraud and irregularities in voting patterns.

Karan is a close ally of the previous president, Milorad Dodik, who was removed from office following a court ruling due to separatist activities and was not allowed to run again.

The presidential election was brought forward to November 2025 as a result, with Karan receiving 50.4% of the votes cast, leaving him around 10,000 votes ahead of Blanuša on 48.2%.

The partial repeat could have swung the election, with some 84,500 voters eligible to take part on Sunday.

The new president will serve for just under a year until the end of the parliamentary legislative period in 2026. After that, parliamentary and regular presidential elections are scheduled.

Since the end of the 1992-95 Bosnian War, Bosnia-Herzegovina has consisted of two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBIH), where mainly Croats and Muslim Bosniaks live, and the predominantly ethnically Serbian-populated Republika Srpska.

The regions are largely autonomous in areas not concerning foreign, defence and security policy.

Photo: Siniša Karan's Facebook