Bosnia’s Dodik urges Serb diaspora in US to vote for Trump

SARAJEVO: Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Monday urged the Serbian diaspora living in the United States to vote for Donald Trump, calling the Republican candidate a leader of peace.

Trump´s “return at the US helm would mean the return of a reasonable and fair foreign policy, on which global stability also depends,” Dodik wrote on social media The US is home to between 180,000 ethnic Serbs and 200,000 Americans of Serbian origin, according to the Serbian-American friendship club website, citing the latest US census results. The US will vote in presidential elections on Tuesday, with polls saying the race between Trump and his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris is in a total deadlock.

Dodik, the president of Bosnia´s Republika Srpska (RS), is currently under US sanctions and is also seen as a Kremlin ally. Nearly three decades since Bosnia´s 1992-1995 war between its Croats, Muslims and Serbs ended, the Balkan country remains deeply divided along ethnic lines.

Dodik has been frequently accused of undercutting the country´s fragile peace with frequent calls for the RS to secede from Bosnia. On Monday, Dodik -- who has also regularly slammed alleged “interference” by successive US ambassadors in Bosnia´s internal affairs -- argued that Trump “will understand the situation in Bosnia better than previous (US) administrations”. “Trump´s first term has shown him to be a president of peace who leads world politics responsibly and takes into account the specificities of all parties,” he added.