(MENAFN- AzerNews) Voters in Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, headed to the polls on Sunday for a snap presidential election.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) across 2,211 locations both within Republika Srpska and abroad. Voting will run until 7 p.m. (1800 GMT). According to Bosnia's election commission, more than one million citizens are registered to vote. The first preliminary results are expected before midnight, according to the Anadolu Agency.

Six candidates on the ballot

The Central Election Commission confirmed that six contenders are competing for the presidency following the removal of Milorad Dodik from office.

The frontrunner, according to analysts, is Sinisa Karan - the minister for science, technology and higher education - who enjoys the backing of Dodik's Union of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD).

He is joined on the ballot by Dragan Djokanovic of the New Policy Union, Branko Blanusa of the Serbian Democratic Party, Nikola Lazarevic of the Ecological Party of Republika Srpska, and two independent candidates, Igor Gasevic and Slavko Dragicevic.

Background to the snap vote

The election was triggered after months of political crisis centred on Milorad Dodik, known for his separatist rhetoric and repeated challenges to Bosnia's constitutional order.

Dodik openly refused to recognise the Office of the High Representative (OHR) - created under the Dayton Peace Agreement - and rejected the authority of the current High Representative, Christian Schmidt.

In June 2023, under Dodik's leadership, the Republika Srpska National Assembly voted to stop publishing Schmidt's decisions in its Official Gazette. Schmidt annulled those moves, invoking his powers to block legislation seen as threatening the state's integrity.

Dodik doubled down on his claims that Republika Srpska would eventually“secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Prosecutors charged him with failing to comply with OHR decisions, seeking a prison term. In December 2023, he received a one-year prison sentence and a six-year ban from political office, later converted into a fine.

Bosnia's Central Election Commission subsequently voted unanimously to remove him from the presidency, paving the way for the current snap election.

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