RS opposition leader wins Bosnian presidency vote

RS opposition leader wins Bosnian presidency vote

Izetbegović represents the Bosniak (Muslim) people and comes from the Party of Democratic Action (SDA); Čović represents Croats on the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina ticket; while Ivanić comes from the Party of Democratic Progress, which has been left in opposition in Bosnia's Serb entity (RS).

Ivanić defeated Željka Cvijanović from the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), led by RS President Milorad Dodik, who in Sunday's general election secured another four years in office.

Izetbegović's SDA and Dodik's SNSD are the parties that received the highest number of votes for the House of Representatives in the Bosnian parliament, according to the preliminary results.

In the RS, Dodik's party won 208,498 votes (39.58 percent) and while the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) received 176,441 votes (33.50 percent) in elections for the Bosnian parliament.

Dodik said that he would be the "new old president of RS" because, as the candidate of the ruling coalition, he beat his rival Ognjen Tadić from the opposition Alliance for Change by about 12,000 votes, the Beta agency reported.

Dodik commented on the Bosnian presidency race to say that he was sorry about that result, and in reference to the fact that Ivanić received support from the international community and Muslims, said he "could not believe that Serbs decided that way knowing who supports him, and how."

Dodik, however, is expecting Cvijanović to receive the support of Croat votes from abroad, which is why he believes the victor for this election level will not be known until the all the votes have been counted, Beta said.

3,227,543 citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina were eligible to vote and the turnout was 54.14 percent.

The Central Election Commission must publish final results by November 11.