Former Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik is banned from running in the elections tomorrow, but as he walked into a packed sports hall alongside his chosen replacement, the only name the crowd chanted was his.
Swamped by well-wishers during the campaign rally last week, Dodik, an ardent nationalist, retains undeniable political stature in the statelet, Republika Srpska (RS), despite being removed from office months ago.
“He will always be our president,” 52-year-old supporter Biljana Kuvelja said. “He is the bulwark defending the Serb people and Republika Srpska, a true leader, the one we need.”
Photo: Reuters
Dodik, 66, was removed from the presidency in August after being convicted for flouting rulings by the international envoy who oversees the peace treaty that ended the Bosnian War in 1995.
Bosnia has been split between Serbian and Bosnian-Croat political units since the end of the war, in which tens of thousands died. The country is held together by weak central institutions.
As part of his conviction, Dodik was banned from holding public office for six years.
After decrying the sentence and threatening to block elections, he reluctantly picked Sinisa Karan, a close ally, as his successor.
Surrounded by tricolor RS flags at the rally in the entity’s east, Dodik — or “the boss,” as his supporters call him — strode out in front, warmly shaking hands with supporters.
“They wanted to get rid of one Dodik, but now they’ll have two Dodiks!” Karan told the crowd.
Rally attendee Spiro Pljevaljcic said he stood by the former president despite some “bad policies” that drove his own children to seek work abroad.
“He fears no one,” he said.
On the other side, the opposition has entered the presidential race with a near-unknown, Branko Blanusa, an electrical engineering professor who has promised to govern differently and accused Dodik of dividing society.
“On one side, we have the wealthy members of the ruling regime. On the other hand, it’s you, the people, who live very modestly,” Blanusa said during a rally.
Gavro Mandic, an 86-year-old opposition supporter, said Blanusa’s lack of profile did not matter after nearly two decades of Dodik’s party being in power.
“Blanusa will win, because the people are fed up and want change.”
East Ilidza Mayor Marinko Bozovic, a fierce Dodik critic, said he sees the snap election as “an opportunity for RS to take a new path.”
Dodik’s term had been marred by “corruption” and scandals, he said, adding that “if his mission since coming to power was to weaken RS, then he has accomplished it well.”
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
A grieving mother has ended her life at a clinic in Switzerland four years after the death of her only child. Wendy Duffy, 56, a physically healthy woman, died at the Pegasos clinic in Basel after struggling to cope with the death of her 23-year-old son, Marcus. The former care worker, from the West Midlands, England, had previously attempted to take her own life. The case comes as assisted dying would not become law in England and Wales after proposed legislation, branded “hopelessly flawed” by opponents, ran out of time. Ruedi Habegger, the founder of Pegasos, described Duffy’s death as
From post offices and parks to stations and even the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan’s vending machines are ubiquitous, but with the rapid pace of inflation cooling demand for their drinks, operators are being forced to rethink the business. Last month beverage giant DyDo Group Holdings announced it would remove about 20,000 vending machines — about 7 percent of their stock nationwide — by January next year, to “reconstruct a profitable network.” Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage, based in Nagoya, also said last month it would sell its 40,000-machine operation to Osaka-based Lifedrink Co. “The strength of the vending machine
RSS