Instead of Dodik: Republika Srpska elects new acting president
19 October 09:15
The Parliament of Republika Srpska, an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, has appointed Ana Trusic Babic as acting president.
This was reported on the website of the legislative body, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Not all 83 members of the parliament participated in the election, but only members of the ruling coalition, and the opposition ignored the election. As a result, 48 deputies voted for 58-year-old Babic, who had previously served as an adviser to former President Milorad Dodik for 15 years. Four more parliamentarians voted against, and there were no abstentions, Radio and Television of Republika Srpska reported.
Babic will hold the new position only until the early presidential elections scheduled for November 23. They were decided to be held after a court in Sarajevo in August found the then incumbent President Dodik guilty of unconstitutional activities against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was removed from office, and the initially imposed one-year prison sentence was replaced with a fine. Dodik will also not be able to hold political office in the country for six years.
Following the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which lasted more than three years, the Dayton Peace Accords were signed in 1995. Part of the settlement was the administrative division of the country into two halves: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, populated mainly by Bosnian Muslims and Croats, and Republika Srpska, dominated by Serbs. These two semi-autonomous regions have their own governments and parliaments, but are united by an unstable central government.
