A few days before the repeated early elections for the president of the Republika Srpska, which will be held in 136 polling stations, the rhetoric of the parties whose candidates are in a narrow difference is intensifying. SDS makes allegations of vote buying, while SNSD claims that repeated elections create chaos.
A few days before the repeated elections for the president of the RS, which will be held in 136 polling stations and which should bring the final outcome of the early presidential race, the party’s rhetoric is intensifying. SDS claims to have information about massive vote buying.
According to SDS, citizens from Bratunac, Zvornik and Doboj contact them every day, claiming that they are being offered money for their vote. As they state, citizens are offered from 100, 200 and 300, and even up to 500 convertible marks for a vote. SDS asks whether the government intends to raise the living standards of citizens and pensioners in this way.
They also state that pressure is being exerted on employees in public institutions, who are being asked for signatures as a guarantee that they will vote for the SNSD. We did not receive a comment from SNSD on the specific accusations. The leader of the ruling party said a day earlier that the SDS candidate was weak, stating that the goal of repeated elections was to create a chaotic situation.
SNSD President Milorad Dodik stated that citizens often do not know at which polling station they are voting, and that the goal of repeated elections is to cause chaos and question the legitimacy of the electoral process. He added that he guarantees that the elections are fair and that they are conducted in accordance with the rules, citing as an argument the fact that in the previous elections in the RS, new technology and new rules were experimentally applied in 20 polling stations, and that in all these stations the SNSD won more votes than before. He pointed out that the SNSD was stolen, not their political opponents.
If there are suspicions of electoral corruption, they must be reported to the competent institutions, because it is a criminal act. Allegations of vote buying are repeated in every election cycle, but the problem is proving them.
The representative of the “Under Scrutiny” Coalition, Srđan Ostojić, warns that it is very difficult to provide evidence in cases of electoral corruption, because the testimony of persons who are involved in or have witnessed violations of the electoral law is most often required. He adds that, due to the shortcomings of the justice system and the insufficient protection of whistleblowers, people rarely decide to testify, which makes a judicial epilogue impossible.
Political analyst Tanja Topić warns that it is important not to repeat what was shown by the previous elections held on November 23, namely, as she states, the enormous scale of election theft, fraud and malfeasance. He points out that not a single case has been opened, and that supposedly only a few reports are being investigated, but that everything is taking place quietly, in the drawers of the institutions that should react.
The decision of the Central Electoral Commission to repeat the elections in a certain number of polling stations was made due to irregularities found in the November elections. In those elections, SNSD candidate Siniša Karan had 9,577 more votes than SDS candidate Branko Blanuša.
