Branko Blanuša

A former dean at the University of Banja Luka, he has led the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) since December 2025 and ran for President of Republika Srpska in 2025 and 2026. He did not stand in the 2026 election for the Serb member of the Presidency; the SDS nominated Marinko Božović for that seat.

Career

Blanuša graduated from the Faculty of Electronics of the University of Niš and earned his master's degree and doctorate at the University of Banja Luka, where he taught electronics and was dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering from 2017 to 2021. He joined the SDS in 2013 and failed to win a seat in the state House of Representatives in 2018. He was elected SDS president unanimously on 28 December 2025. As the SDS candidate for President of Republika Srpska he took 48.22% in November 2025 against SNSD's Siniša Karan; after irregularities the vote was repeated in February 2026 and he took 48.09% to Karan's 50.53%, according to Wikipedia. For the October 2026 general election the SDS nominated him again for entity president, and the opposition united behind him.

Positions

Wikipedia describes the SDS as centre-right to right-wing, Serb nationalist, conservative and pro-European, noting that scholars have characterised its earlier history as ultranationalist.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia · FENA · FENA · Wikipedia

Photo: European People's Party, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)