KARAN WINS PRESIDENCY WITH 50.54 PERCENT, BLANUŠA GOT 48.09 PERCENT

SARAJEVO, FEBRUARY 8 /SRNA/ – SNSD candidate Siniša Karan won 224,384 votes, or 50.54 percent, in the early presidential rerun elections in Republika Srpska, while SDS candidate Branko Blanuša received 213,513 votes, or 48.09 percent, according to preliminary results from the Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH after 100 percent of polling stations were processed.

Alliance for New Politics candidate Dragan Đokanović received 2,028 votes, or 0.46 percent; Ecological Party of Republika Srpska candidate Nikola Lazarević 1,660 votes, or 0.37 percent; independent candidate Igor Gašević 1,364 votes, or 0.31 percent; and independent candidate Slavko Dragičević 1,068 votes, or 0.24 percent. In the early presidential elections held on 23 November last year, Karan won 222,182 votes, or 50.39 percent, while Blanuša received 212,605 votes, or 48.22 percent. However, the CEC of BiH on 31 December decided to repeat voting at 136 polling stations across 17 electoral units: Prijedor, Laktaši, Banja Luka, Doboj, Stanari, Lopare, Ugljevik, Osmaci, Zvornik, Vlasenica, Bratunac, Nevesinje, Gacko, Rudo, Bileća, Milići, and Brčko. For today's early presidential rerun elections, 84,474 voters were eligible, of whom 41,826 voted, representing 49.51 percent turnout. The total number of voters participating in the early presidential elections in Republika Srpska is 452,219, or 35.77 percent.