KARAN WON 8,431 MORE VOTES THAN BLANUŠA

SARAJEVO, NOVEMBER 24 /SRNA/ - The SNSD candidate in the early elections for President of Republika Srpska, Siniša Karan, won 217,638 votes, or 50.31 percent, according to the latest preliminary, unofficial, and incomplete results of the Central Election Commission /CEC/ of BiH.

After 99.72 percent of polling stations were processed, the SDS candidate Branko Blanuša is second with 209,207 votes, or 48.36 percent. Dragan Đokanović of the Alliance for a New Politics received the support of 1,878 voters, or 0.43 percent, and Nikola Lazarević of the Ecological Party of Republika Srpska won 1,590 votes, or 0.37 percent. Independent candidates Igor Gašević received 1,284 votes, or 0.30 percent, and Slavko Dragičević 1,012 votes, or 0.23 percent. According to CEC data, out of 1,264,364 registered voters for yesterday’s elections, 439,897 cast their ballots, or 34.79 percent. There were 432,609 valid ballots, or 98.21 percent; 853 blank ballots, or 0.19 percent; and 7,024 ballots, or 1.59 percent, were invalid for other reasons.