Early Election of the President of Republika Srpska, 23 November 2025

Following an invitation from the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to observe the 23 November 2025 early election of the president of Republika Srpska and in accordance with its mandate, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) undertook a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 22 to 25 September 2025.1 The NAM included Ulvi Akhundlu, Deputy Head of the ODIHR Election Department, and Kakha Inaishvili, ODIHR Election Adviser.

The purpose of the NAM was to assess the pre-election environment and preparations for the early election of the president of Republika Srpska. Based on this assessment, the NAM should recommend whether to deploy an ODIHR election-related activity for the forthcoming election, and if so, what type of activity best meets the identified needs. Meetings were held with officials from state institutions as well as with key stakeholders. A list of meetings is annexed to this report.

Mission at a glance

Head of Mission: Mátyás Eörsi

Core team of 15 experts from 11 OSCE participating States, based in Banja Luka and deployed across Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mission schedule

27 October:                   Arrival of the core team

31 October:                   Deployment of regional analysts

23 November:               Election day

24 November:               Press conference on preliminary findings and conclusions 

28 November:               Departure of the core team and regional analysts

Following an invitation to observe the early election of the president of Republika Srpska scheduled for 23 November 2025, based on the findings and conclusions of the Needs Assessment Mission and in accordance with its mandate, ODIHR has deployed a Special Election Assessment Mission (SEAM).

Scope and focus of the mission

The mission is led by Mátyás Eörsi and consists of 11 international core team experts from 9 OSCE participating States based in Banja Luka from 28 October and 4 regional analysts from 4 different participating States deployed in teams of two across Republika Srpska from 31 October.

The mission will assess whether the election is in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation.

Observers will closely follow fundamental components of the election such as:

• voter registration
• candidate registration
• campaign activities and financing
• media environment 
• the work of the election administration and relevant state institutions
• election-related legislation and its implementation
• the resolution of election-related disputes

The ODIHR SEAM will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day. Mission members will, however, visit a limited number of polling stations on election day.

The day after the election, ODIHR will issue a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions at a press conference. A final report on the observation of the entire electoral process will be issued some months after the end of the election process.

Previous Elections

ODIHR has previously observed 12 elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, most recently the 2024 local elections.