Kosarac Seeks Emergency Session on Serbian Vote in Bosnia
The deputy chair of Bosnia's Council of Ministers says Elmedin Konakovic has not sent Serbia's embassy note up for a decision, nine days before Serbia's election.
Serbian citizens living in Bosnia and Herzegovina can vote in Serbia’s parliamentary election on October 25 only if authorities in Sarajevo allow it, and according to Stasa Kosarac, that question has not even been put to a decision yet. The deputy chair of the Bosnian Council of Ministers asked on October 16 for an emergency session to consider the request for consent to let Serbian citizens vote in Bosnia. Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic, Kosarac claims, has not sent the Serbian embassy’s note up for a decision.
What did Serbia’s embassy ask for, and when?
On September 28, 2026, Serbia’s embassy in Bosnia sent a note to the Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a ministry within the Council of Ministers. The note informs Bosnia that parliamentary elections will be held in Serbia on October 25 and asks that voting be permitted on Bosnian territory and polling stations opened. The news agency Srna reported this, having obtained the justification for Kosarac’s request.
Eighteen days passed between the note and the request for an emergency session, and nine days remain until the election in Serbia. That is why Kosarac is pressing for urgency: the election has a fixed date, and the note, by his account, has not been put forward for a decision.
The justification also says the note confirms reciprocity, since Bosnian citizens vote in Serbia. Kosarac makes this his main argument: if Bosnian citizens have the right to vote in Serbian elections, then in his reading Serbian citizens in Bosnia should have the same right.
What does Kosarac hold against Konakovic?
Kosarac says that by refusing to send the note up for a decision, Minister Konakovic is sending a bad message and obstructing Serbian citizens in exercising their right to vote. Konakovic is a familiar name to our readers from an earlier story, in which we reported that he had sent 15 letters to Washington over Dodik.
The published statements from Kosarac contain no reply from the foreign minister to this accusation, so his position on the note cannot be stated. Srna reported Kosarac’s claims in indirect speech, so only what the agency published is given here.
What consequences does Kosarac signal?
Kosarac said earlier that he will not give up on the demand that Serbian citizens be allowed to vote in Bosnia on October 25, and that Republika Srpska will respond appropriately if the issue is not resolved. The available statements do not specify what that response would be, or which institutions he would turn to.
He also warned that denying the vote would hit Serbian citizens of Bosniak ethnicity too. In his assessment, a ban would not affect only one side.
For Serbia the issue is a practical one: how many voters could cast ballots in Bosnia depends on whether polling stations are opened at all, and that decision rests not with Belgrade but with the Bosnian Council of Ministers. One question remains open before the October 25 election: whether an emergency session of the Council of Ministers will be scheduled at all.
