Bosnian Serbs Finish Voting On Disputed 'Republic Day'

PALE, Bosnia and Herzegovina, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Sep, 2016 ) - Serbs in Bosnia voted Sunday on whether to keep celebrating a statehood day in January, a date tied to the fragile nation's brutal 1990s war and a sensitive issue for other ethnic groups.

The poll was the brainchild of Milorad Dodik, nationalist leader of the Bosnian Serb-run entity Republika Srpska (RS), which partners the Muslim-Croat Federation in the divided country. Dodik hailed what he described as a high turnout and "festive atmosphere" after casting his ballot.

In staging the vote, he flouted a veto by Bosnia's constitutional court, disapproval by the United States and the European Union -- and even the reservations of Serbia, RS' foremost ally. But his initiative was supported by Russia.

Some 1.2 million voters were entitled to cast a ballot on whether they want to continue celebrating their "Republic Day" on January 9. The date has huge emotional resonance in Bosnia, stirring memories of nationalist fervour, trauma and bloodshed.

It marks the proclamation of a "Republic of Serb people" in Bosnia that took place three months before the inter-ethnic 1992-1995 conflict that claimed 100,000 lives.

The founders of that "republic" included Radovan Karadzic -- sentenced in March to 40 years' jail for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the war that also displaced more than two million people.

Polls opened at 7 am local time (0500 GMT) and closed at 7 pm (1700 GMT). Voting passed off without incident. "I came to vote because every nation and every state has its own national holiday.

Accordingly, our Serbian people must have their holiday," said Vojo Vujakovic, 60, at a polling station near the Bosnian Serb capital of Banja Luka. Bosnia's constitutional court cancelled the referendum, ruling that the holiday is illegal for discriminating against non-Serbs, but Dodik pressed ahead in defiance of the edict.

Valentin Inzko, the international envoy to Bosnia, described the vote as "pointless" and declared it was void of "any legal consequences". "This referendum has sparked a lot of tension... but there won't be war," he added.