Bosnian Serb Opposition Party Elects New Leader

In a bid to unify and strengthen the embattled opposition Bosnian Serb party after its defeat in recent local elections, an extraordinary assembly of the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, on Sunday unanimously elected Vukota Govedarica as the new chief.

Some experts said that Govedarica looked unlikely to initiate a radical change of course and would likely be influenced by the party's previous leader, Mladen Bosic.

Milorad Dodik, leader of the SDS's main rival, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, which governs the Serb-led entity, Republika Srpska, said the change of leadership in the SDS would make no difference.

"The SDS is a loser. I see that they are continuing with same attitudes," Dodik said, on hearing the news about Govedarica's election.

However, in his victory speech, Govedarica pledged to modernize and rejuvenate the party but added that he would rely also on SDS's old party stalwarts. He is expected to propose a new party leadership from February 2017.

Govedarica, 40, is third generation of SDS leaders. The party was established in 1990 by Radovan Karadzic. He joined the SDS in 1999 and is currently serving his third mandate as an MP in the RS National Assembly.

Govedarica is known also among the public for his skills with the Serbian traditional fiddle, or gusle, as well as for his dramatic verbal duels on occasions with SNSD leader Dodik.

Govedarica was among three SDS members who were proposed as new SDS leader by Bosic when he resigned.

After tense negotiations, the SDS main board agreed that Govedarica would be their only candidate. The purpose of having only one "unity" candidate was to prevent further divisions, officials said, although some say this approach could backfire.