Separatist wins rerun vote for president of Bosnian

A close ally of Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik declared victory in a partial rerun on Sunday of the Serb Republic's presidential election, which was called due to irregularities in the original vote last November.



Sinisa Karan, of the ⁠republic's ruling SNSD party, was also the victor in the November election for the largely ceremonial post. ⁠



His opponent, Branko Blanusa of the Serb Democratic Party, conceded defeat in Sunday's partial rerun but accused the ruling party of vote buying and "election engineering".



Sinisa Karan said at a news conference. Bosnia's central election commission is expected to release preliminary results of the vote late.



The repeat vote was limited to a small portion of the electorate, covering just 136 polling stations and 85,000 eligible voters, but the close November tally raised the possibility that it could alter ⁠the final result.



Karan's term will last until a general election scheduled for October.