The candidate of the dismissed president of the Bosnian Serb statelet, Milorad Dodik's party, has won a snap vote to replace him, official preliminary results showed.

Sinisa Karan won 50.89 percent of the vote compared with 47.81 percent for his main rival Branko Blanusa, according to the results released by the central electoral commission.

They were based on votes counted from nearly 93 percent of the polling stations.

In December 2023, Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison and a six-year political ban, which the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina commuted to a fine.

Then, Bosnia's Central Election Commission unanimously removed Dodik from his position as the RS president.