Republika Srpska presidential election, 2007

A presidential election in Bosnia-Herzegovina entity Serb Republic was announced after the premature death of President Milan Jelić on 30 September 2007; it was held on 9 December 2007. [ [http://www.24sata.info/7767 9. decembar: Prijevremeni izbori za predsjednika Republike Srpske | 24sata.info - Vijesti, gradovi, sport, zabava, tehnologija, lifestyle, kolumne ] ] Until the election took place, Igor Radojičić, also from the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, was acting president. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/01/europe/EU-GEN-Bosnia-Next-President.php Radojcic nominated as interim president in Republika Srpska - International Herald Tribune ] ] The election had to be called within fifteen days of Jelić's death; [ [http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/117996.html Thousands expected at late Bosnian Serb leader Jelic's funeral : World ] ] it was called on 11 October 2007, with candidates to be nominated by 16 October 2007. [ [http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1364500.php/Bosnian_Serbs_to_elect_new_president Bosnian Serbs to elect new president - Europe ] ]

There were ten candidates, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7135341.stm BBC NEWS | Europe | Bosnian Serbs get new president ] ] with the frontrunners being the Republika Srpska Academy of Sciences chairman Rajko Kuzmanović of the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, MP Ognjen Tadić of the main opposition Serbian Democratic Party, and former Prime Minister of Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanić of the Party of Democratic Progress. [ [http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newssummary/#setimes/newsbriefs/2007/11/26/nb-04 News ] ]

All three main candidates supported Republika Srspka's status in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Dayton Accords. President of Serbia Boris Tadić and the Democratic Party in Serbia supported the SNSD and its candidate Kuzmanović. [ [http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2007&mm=12&dd=09&nav_id=46040 B92 - News - Region - RS holds presidential elections ] ] According to the electoral law, there would be no run-off. [ [http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/12/06/feature-02 Republika Srpska poised to elect new president Sunday (SETimes.com) ] ]

The other candidates were: [ [http://derstandard.at/?id=3138248 derStandard.at / Registrierung ] ]
* Mirko Blagojević of the Serbian Radical Party of the Republika Srpska
* Slobodan Popović of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Krsto Jandrić of the People's Democratic Party
* Anton Josipović of the People's Party Work for Betterment
* Nedžad Delić of the Democratic Disabled People's Party
* Dragan Đokanović independent candidate [ [http://www.izbori.ba/] ]
* Nikola Lazarević of the European Environmental Party E-5

According to unofficial results (with 55% of the votes counted), Kuzmanović won the election with 44.53% of the votes to Tadić's 33.28% and Ivanić's 16%. [ [http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/12/10/feature-01 Unofficial results declare Kuzmanovic new president of Republika Srpska (SETimes.com) ] ] Turnout was close to 36%. [ [http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2007&mm=12&dd=10&nav_id=46057 B92 - News - Region - Kuzmanović on track to become Bosnian Serb president ] ]

Official results released on 2007-12-17 confirmed these preliminary results. Kuzmanović was sworn in on 2007-12-28. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/28/europe/EU-GEN-Bosnia-Serb-President.php New Bosnian Serb president vows to work to prevent further unification of country - International Herald Tribune ] ]

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