Bosnia-Herzegovina's electoral authorities have ordered a recount of all ballots cast in Republika Srpska during the country's recent presidential election.
The Central Election Commission issued the order on October 10 after considering several objections and reviewing video footage of the voting in the country's Serbian entity.
"The election process is so contaminated that it is not possible to determine the exact results," commission president Suad Arnautovic said.
Arnautovic said that special attention would be paid to analyzing invalid and damaged ballots.
The opposition Party of Democratic Progress (PDP), the Serbian Democratic Party, (SDS), and the List for Justice and Order had demanded a recount of the votes for president amid reports of election irregularities during the October 2 election.
On October 9, thousands of supporters of the opposition took to the streets to protest the early election results, which had Milorad Dodik of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) winning.
Citing reports of irregularities, central election authorities in Sarajevo had ordered the unsealing of ballot boxes and a recount at some 1,000 polling stations before determining the final totals.
According to the latest official results, Dodik had about 291,915 votes, compared to 262,969 votes for Jelena Trivic, who was supported by the opposition PDP, SDS, and the List for Justice and Order.
SEE ALSO: Opposition Returns To The Streets In Bosnia's Serbian Entity, Claiming Election Fraud By DodikVlado Rogic, the lone election commission member to vote against a recount, said that he supported the initiative but wanted certain legal conditions to be established.
"We can do that only after the [final] determination of the results," he said.
Arnautovic, however, said there was a legal basis for the recount.
Dodik, who has denied the election fraud allegations, has been the most powerful politician in Republika Srpska for years. He has close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while the United States and Britain have placed sanctions on him for allegedly trying to undermine peace and stability in the country.
During a press conference in Belgrade on October 10, Dodik said a recount was unacceptable and that his SNSD party "won at all levels."
"Preliminary results say that I have 29,000 more votes in the elections for the president of Republika Srpska," Dodik said.
Bosnia has been governed by an administrative system created by the Dayton peace accords in 1995 that ended three years of war in the former Yugoslav republic marked by ethnic cleansing and brutality.
The U.S.-brokered accords created two highly autonomous entities that share some joint institutions: the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation.
The country is governed and administered along ethnic lines established by the agreement, with a weak and often dysfunctional central government.