Bosnian Serb Parliament Appoints Leader After Former President Banned

The parliament of Republika Srpska appointed Ana Trišić-Babić as interim president, formally acknowledging the removal of longtime nationalist leader Milorad Dodik months after a court removed him from office, Reuters reported. 

Trišić-Babić – a former deputy foreign minister and close adviser to Dodik for 15 years – will serve as the president of Republika Srpska, the autonomous Bosnian Serb region, for one month until early presidential elections are held next month.  

Bosnia’s Central Election Commission confirmed that the winner of the Nov. 23 vote will serve until the next scheduled general election in October 2026, with Trišić-Babić expected to remain as acting president in the interim. 

Saturday’s appointment effectively ends Dodik’s mandate as president of Republika Srpska, though he remains a dominant political figure in the region.  

It comes after a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted Dodik in February for defying decisions by Christian Schmidt, the international envoy who is charged with enforcing a peace deal that ended the country’s 1992-1995 war, according to Agence France-Presse. 

He has been banned from holding office for six years. 

Parliament also repealed several separatist laws passed under Dodik’s administration after he was indicted. 

The Bosnian Serb leader brought Bosnia’s fragile central government to the brink over recent months with his threats of secession.  

A pro-Russian nationalist sanctioned by the US and other countries since 2017, he has maintained close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been accused by Western governments of undermining the 1995 Dayton peace accord.  

Dodik has denounced the case against him as a “political trial” and is appealing the conviction.  

Following Saturday’s vote, Dodik insisted that Republika Srpska would not alter its political course, reiterating his long-standing goal of eventual secession from Bosnia and unification with Serbia. 

The US State Department welcomed Saturday’s appointment, describing it as a result of US-led efforts “to defuse the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina” and a step toward renewed stability and cooperation.  

On Friday, the US Treasury Department also lifted sanctions on four Dodik allies, a development Dodik praised while continuing to seek the removal of those against him.